Processing packets by a network device

ABSTRACT

A method and apparatus for performing a lookup in a switching device of a packet switched network where the lookup includes a plurality of distinct operations each of which returns a result that includes a pointer to a next operation in a sequence of operations for the lookup. The method includes determining a first lookup operation to be executed, executing the first lookup operation including returning a result and determining if the result includes a pointer to another lookup operation in the sequence of operations. If the result includes a pointer to another lookup operation, the lookup operation indicated by the result is executed. Else, the lookup is terminated.

BACKGROUND

The present invention relates generally to data routing systems, andmore particularly to methods and apparatus for efficiently routingpackets through a network.

In packet switched communication systems, a router is a switching devicewhich receives packets containing data or control information on oneport, and based on destination information contained within the packet,routes the packet out another port to the destination (or anintermediary destination).

Conventional routers perform this switching function by evaluatingheader information contained within a first data block in the packet inorder to determine the proper output port for a particular packet.

Efficient switching of packets through the router is of paramountconcern. Referring now to FIG. 1A, a conventional router includes aplurality of input ports 2 each including an input buffer (memory) 4, aswitching device 6 and a plurality of output ports 8.

Data packets received at an input port 2 are stored, at leasttemporarily, in input buffer 4 while destination information associatedwith each packet is decoded to determine the appropriate switchingthrough the switching device 6. The size of input buffer 4 is based inpart on the speed with which the destination information may be decoded.If the decoding process takes too long as compared to the rate at whichpackets are received, large sized memory elements may be required orpackets may be dropped.

In addition, the size of input buffer may be influenced by a conditionreferred to as “blocking”. Packets may be forced to remain in the inputbuffer after the destination information is decoded if the switchingdevice cannot make the connection. Blocking refers to a condition inwhich a connection cannot be made in the switch due to theunavailability of the desired output port (the port is busy, e.g.,routing another packet from a different input port). In summary, thesize of input buffer 4 is dependent on a number of factors including theline input rate, the speed of the lookup process, and the blockingcharacteristics for the switching device. Unfortunately, conventionalrouters are inefficient in a number of respects. Each input portincludes a dedicated input buffer and memory sharing between input portsis not provided for in the design. Each input buffer must be sized tomeet the maximum throughput requirements for a given port. However,design trade-offs (cost) often necessitate smaller buffers for eachport. With the smaller buffers, the possibility arises for packets to bedropped due to blocking conditions. While excess memory capacitytypically exists in the router (due to the varied usage of the inputports), no means for taking advantage of the excess is afforded.

To minimize the occurrence of dropping packets, designers developed nonhead-of-line blocking routers. Referring now to Figure IB, aconventional non head-of-line blocking router includes a plurality ofinput ports 2 each including an input buffer (memory) 4, a switchingdevice 6 and a plurality of output ports 8 each having an output buffer(memory) 9. In order to provide non head-of-line blocking each outputport 8 is configured to include an output buffer so that each outputport can simultaneously be outputting packets as well as receiving newpackets for output at a later time. As the size of the output buffer isincreased, fewer packets are dropped due to head-of line blocking atinput ports.

However, these designs are even more inefficient in terms of memorycapacity and cost. Again, each output port includes a dedicated outputbuffer and memory sharing between output ports is not provided for inthe design. Each output buffer must be sized to meet the maximumthroughput requirements for a given port (in order to maintain its nonhead-of-line blocking characteristics). Even more excess memory capacitytypically exists in the router (due to the varied usage of the inputports and output ports), yet no means for taking advantage of the excessis afforded. Twice the amount and bandwidth of memory has to be usedthan required to support the amount of data being moved through thesetypes of devices.

What is desirable is to produce a router where the data packets can flowto a common memory, while routing decisions are made off-line. Byseparating the data path, the path along which the packet data traversesthrough the router, and the control path, a path used in evaluating thepacket headers, memory can be conserved. In addition, by separating thedata and control path, advanced filtering, policing and other operationscan be performed without incurring expensive increases in the memoryrequirements for the router due to the additional time required toperform the extra operations.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In one aspect the invention provides a method for performing a lookup ina switching device of a packet switched network where the lookupincludes a plurality of distinct operations each of which returns aresult that includes a pointer to a next operation in a sequence ofoperations for the lookup. The method includes determining a firstlookup operation to be executed, executing the first lookup operationincluding returning a result and determining if the result includes apointer to another lookup operation in the sequence of operations. Ifthe result includes a pointer to another lookup operation, the lookupoperation indicated by the result is executed. Else, the lookup isterminated.

Aspects of the invention can include one or more of the followingfeatures. A lookup operation can be selected from the group of a treesearch, an index search and a filter. A lookup operation can include afunction list that specifies one or more functions to execute during theexecution of the lookup operation. The function can be selected from thegroup of a management function, accounting function and policingfunction. The method can include identifying when a lookup operationspecifies a function and executing the function including returning aresult that indicates a next lookup operation in the sequence ofoperations to be executed. The execution of the function includesdetermining when a packet should be sampled for further processing andincluding in the result a designation that indicates the packet is to besampled.

In another aspect the invention provides a method for performing alookup to determine routing for a packet through a switching device in apacket switched network. The method includes chaining a plurality oflookup operations in a sequence including linking each operation to asuccessive operation in the sequence such that an arbitrary sequence ofoperations can be specified to determine the routing of a packet throughthe switching device and executing the chain of lookup operations.

In another aspect the invention provides a method for performing alookup in a switching device. The method includes identifying a firstlookup operation in a sequence of lookup operations to be performed on apacket, executing the first lookup operation including returning aresult that is a pointer to a subsequent lookup operation in thesequence, executing the subsequent lookup including returning a resultthat is a pointer to a next lookup operation in the sequence, continuingto execute lookup operations in the sequence until a lookup operation inthe sequence returns a result that indicates that no more operations areto be processed and when a result indicates that no more operations areto be processed, returning a notification to the switching device thatincludes routing information for the routing of the packet through theswitching device.

In another aspect the invention provides a method for policing a streamin a switching device in a packet switched network. The method includes,in a single read operation, determining a data rate for the stream in atime interval and a policing decision for a current packet in the streamand, in a single write operation, writing the policy decision and countinformation for the stream without requiring global overhead to clearthe count at each time interval.

In another aspect the invention provides a method for updating a lookupdata structure in a lookup process. The lookup data structure includesan arbitrary sequence of lookup operations for determining the routingof a packet through a switching device in a packet switched network.Each lookup operation invokes a distinct lookup algorithm that calls adata structure that when executed returns a result that links to a nextlookup operation in the arbitrary sequence. The method includesdetermining a location in the sequence of lookup operations where anupdate is desired. If the update adds a lookup operation to the sequenceat the location, the added lookup operation is written to memory andlinked to a next lookup operation after the location. Thereafter, apointer in a lookup operation preceding the location is updated to pointto the added lookup operation. If the update deletes a lookup operationfrom the sequence at the location, a pointer in a lookup operationpreceding the location is updated to point to a next operation after thelocation and thereafter the lookup operation can be deleted from thememory.

In another aspect the invention provides a data structure for a lookupoperation. The lookup operation is in a sequence of lookup operationsthat, when executed by a switching device in a packet switched network,determines routing for a packet through the switching device. The packetincludes a key to be used in a lookup operation. The data structureincludes a next hop identifier for linking operations in an arbitrarysequence to determine the routing of the packet through the switchingdevice. The next hop identifier includes a pointer, an update and anoffset. The pointer points to a particular lookup operation selectedfrom a group of lookup operations. The update includes data for updatinga pointer that points to a starting byte in the key to be used in thelookup operation. The offset indicates an offset bit down from thestarting byte bit location to use for the lookup operation.

In another aspect the invention provides a method for performing alookup to determine routing for a packet through a switching device in apacket switched network. The method includes providing plural algorithmsin a lookup engine for performing distinct lookup operations, specifyingan arbitrary sequence of lookup operations to be performed when thepacket is received and executing lookup operations defined in thesequence in the order specified.

In another aspect the invention provides a route lookup engine forperforming a lookup in a packet switched network where the lookupincludes a plurality of distinct operations each of which returns aresult that includes a pointer to a next operation in a sequence ofoperations for the lookup. The apparatus includes one or more lookupoperation engines for executing lookup operations including returning aresult and a lookup engine. The lookup engine is operable to determine afirst lookup operation in the sequence to be executed, evaluate theresult returned from the execution of the first lookup operation todetermine if the result includes a pointer to another lookup operationin the sequence of operations, invoke a particular lookup operationengine from the group of lookup operation engines based on the pointerto execute a next lookup operation in the sequence of operations andterminate the lookup and return a result to be used in routing thepacket through the packet switched network.

Aspects of the invention can include one or more of the followingfeatures. The lookup operation engines can be selected from the group ofa tree search look up engine, a index search index engine and a filterengine. The route lookup engine can include a memory configurable tostore one or more tree data structures and where the pointer returnedfor invoking the tree search engine includes an indicator pointing to aparticular tree data structure stored in the memory to be searched inthe lookup operation. The memory can include one or more index datastructures and where the pointer returned for invoking the index searchengine includes an indicator pointing to a particular index datastructure stored in the memory to be searched in the lookup operation.The memory can store one or more filter data structures and where thepointer returned for invoking the filter engine includes an indicatorpointing to a particular filter data structure stored in the memory tobe searched in the lookup operation.

A lookup operation can include a function list that specifies one ormore functions to execute during the execution of the lookup operationand where the lookup engine can be operable to read the function listand execute the one or more functions in the lookup. The function can beselected from the group of a management function, accounting functionand policing function. The lookup engine can be operable to identifywhen a lookup operation specifies a function and execute the functionincluding returning a result that indicates a next lookup operation inthe sequence of operations to be executed. The execution of the functioncan include determining when a packet should be sampled for furtherprocessing and including in the result a designation that indicates thepacket is to be sampled.

In another aspect the invention provides an apparatus for policing astream in a switching device in a packet switched network and includes abuffer for storing a count and a threshold for the stream and a policingengine. The policing engine is operable to, in a single read operation,determine a data rate for the stream in a time interval and a makepolicing decision for a current packet in the stream and, in a singlewrite operation, write count information for the stream after eachpacket in a stream is processed without requiring global overhead toclear the count at each time interval.

Aspects of the invention can include one or more of the followingfeatures. The buffer can include four values including a last timeadjustment value that is written in the single write operation toindicate a last time that the data rate was calculated, a current countvalue that indicates an amount of data that had been written as of thelast adjustment time, a threshold value that indicates the thresholdamount of data that can be passed in the stream before policing isrequired, and a credit value indicating the amount of counts to beapplied to the current count per unit time. The policing engine can beoperable to read, in the read operation, the four values and make thepolicing decision, and operable to write, in the write operation, a newvalue for the last time adjustment value and the current count valuethat reflects the processing of a current packet.

Aspects of the invention can include one or more of the followingadvantages. A technique is provided to implement traffic policing basedon a fixed window monitoring mechanism with a minimal use of memorybandwidth. A method and apparatus are provided for implementing ageneral purpose packet filter within a lookup engine for longest matchlookups. An apparatus is provided that supports chained lookupoperations. The apparatus includes a route lookup engine that includesplural engines each for performing a different type of lookup operation.An apparatus is provided to allow for the chaining of plural lookuptechniques in a switching device.

Other advantages and features will be apparent from the followingdescription and claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1A and 3B are block diagrams of conventional router devices.

FIG. 2A is a schematic block diagram of a data routing system.

FIG. 2B is a schematic block diagram of a router.

FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram of a multi-function port.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing the data transfers betweencomponents of the router of FIG. 2B.

FIG. 5 is a schematic block diagram of an input switch.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of memory structure for the router.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of the global memory for the router.

FIG. 8 is a schematic block diagram of a controller.

FIG. 9 shows a schematic block diagram for a key lookup engine.

FIG. 10 shows a packet processing operation.

FIG. 11 is a schematic block diagram of an output switch.

FIG. 12 is a schematic block diagram for an output section of amulti-function port.

FIG. 13 is a schematic block diagram for a queue system for storingnotifications.

FIG. 14 is a flow diagram for a process of routing a packet through arouter.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring to FIG. 2A, in a packet switching system, a source 10 isconnected to one or more routers 20 for transmitting packets to one ormore destinations 30. Each router includes a plurality of multi-functionmultiports that are connected to various sources and destinations. Apacket from source 10 may pass through more than one router 20 prior toarriving at its destination.

Referring to FIG. 2B, each router 20 includes an input switch 100, anoutput switch 102, a global data buffer 104 including one or more memorybanks 105, a controller 106 and a plurality of multi-function multiports150 (150-0 through 150-3), respectively. Associated with the controller106 is a controller memory 109 for storing routing information. Inputswitch 100 and output switch 102 are connected to each multi-functionmultiport 150 in router 20. In one implementation, router 20 includesplug-and-play multi-function multiports which allow for easy expansioncapability. The present invention will be described with reference to asystem including eight multi-function multiports 150 (even though FIG.2B only shows four), with each multi-function multiport including up tosixteen input ports and sixteen output ports. Other configurations maybe used depending on user load conditions. Each multi-function multiportincludes one or more input ports, one or more output ports and a memory.The configuration and operation of the multi-function multiports will bedescribed in greater detail below.

In operation, packets are received at a multi-function multiport 150,transferred to input switch 100 and stored temporarily in global databuffer 104. When the packet is received by input switch 100, a key andother information is read from the packet and transferred (in the formof a notification) to controller 106. The key contains destinationinformation which is derived from the header field associated with thefirst block of data in a packet and other information (such as sourceID, priority data and flow ID).

A route lookup engine 110 in controller 106 performs a lookup based onthe notification information and returns a result which includes theoutput multiport associated with the destination. The result is coupledwith other information (such as source ID, flow ID and packet length)for routing the packet through router 20 and provided as a notificationfrom controller 106 to output switch 102. Output switch 102 transfersthe notification to the identified multi-function multiport 150. Uponreceiving the notification information, the multi-function multiport 150initiates the transfer of the packet from global data buffer 104 throughoutput switch 102 to the appropriate multi-function multiport 150.

Multi-Function Multiports

Referring to FIG. 3, each multi-function multiport 150 includes an inputsection 270, an output section 280 and a memory section 290.

Input section 270 includes a line input interface 300, a data handler302 and an input switch interface 304. Output section 280 includes anoutput request processor 306, a line output interface 308, a storagedevice (memory) 310, stream output buffers 312 (one for each outputstream), output formatter 314, an output switch interface 316 and headand tail queue buffer 318. In addition, the output section includes aportion of input switch interface 304. Specifically, input switchinterface 304 includes read request queues 305, one for each memorybank. The use and operation of the read request queues, stream outputbuffers, and head and tail queue will be discussed in greater detailbelow.

Memory section 290 includes a memory bank 105 (which represents aportion of the global data buffer 104) and a notification area 319. Theuse an operation of the memory section will be discussed in greaterdetail below.

The multi-function multiport is used in conjunction with the inputswitch, output switch 5 and controller as is shown in FIG. 4. Thevarious piece components of the input section; output section and memorysection are described in greater detail below. The combination of thedevices into a single unit simplifies the interfaces between thecomponents.

Referring again to FIG. 3, packets are received at line input interface300. As the packets are received, data handler 302 divides the packetsreceived into fixed lengths cells. In one implementation, the length ofeach cell is 80 bytes, with 16 bytes of internal header (controlinformation) and 64 bytes of cell data. As the data handler divides theincoming packets into fixed length cells, it synchronously outputs thecells to input switch 100 through input switch interface 304.

Each cell transferred from a multi-function multiport 150 to the inputswitch contains a cell header and cell data. The cell header can includea type field, stream field, and packet header fields. In addition, thecell header can include an independent read request in the form of amulti-function multiport identifier and address.

The type field indicates the type of cell to be transferred from themulti-function multiport. At each cell slot (20 clock cycles in oneimplementation), a multi-function multiport may transfer either a datacell, an indirect cell placeholder, or a delayed indirect cellplaceholder. Data cells contain data associated with an incoming packet.An indirect cell placeholder is an empty cell, and is used inconjunction with indirect addressing for the storage of the cells in theglobal data buffer 104. Delayed indirect cell placeholders arise when adata stream that requires indirect addressing terminates at a time priorto the designated time for writing the last indirect addressing cellassociated with the data stream to global data buffer 104. Thegeneration and operation of indirect placeholders and delayed indirectplaceholders will be discussed in greater detail below.

The stream field indicates the stream to which the cell data belongs. Inone implementation, each multi-function multiport is capable of handlingup to sixteen separate streams of data at a time, one on each of itsrespective 16 input ports.

The packet header field contains header information associated with agiven packet and includes start offset information, packet length andinterface index information.

The multi-function multiport identifier identifies the multi-functionmultiport which is sourcing the read request. The address indicates theaddress in global data buffer 104 to be read,

A single cell can be transferred from a multi-function multiport 150 toinput switch 100 at each cell (time) slot “T”. For a given cell slot“T”, input switch 100 receives a total of “N” cells, where “N” is equalto the number of multi-function multiports. Similarly, a single cell canbe transferred from the input switch 100 to memory 104, from the memory104 to the output switch 102, and finally from the output switch 102 toa multi-function multiport 150 at each cell (time) slot “T” as is shownin FIG. 4.

In one implementation, cells from a given stream may be written tomemory in an order that is different from the arrival order. These outof order writes are performed to make efficient use of scarce bandwidthbetween the multi-function multiports and the input switch. When apacket comes in to the multi-function multiport, it is broken up intocells as the bytes arrive and the cells are placed in per-bank outputqueues on the way to the input switch. These queues are designed toshare scarce interconnect bandwidth between the streams of amulti-functional multiport in the most efficient way possible, but theyhave the detrimental effect of reordering cells at the interface betweenthe multi-function multiport and the input switch. Thus the cells from agiven stream may arrive at the input switch out of order. Themulti-function multipart marks the data cells of a stream with one offour codes: first cell (FC); intermediate data cell (DC); last cell(LC); or first cell which happens to be also a last cell (FLC).

Input Switch

Referring to FIGS. 2B and 5, input switch 100 includes a round robindata handler 500, one or more input interfaces (501-0 through 501-7, onefor each multi-function multiport 150), one or more memory interfaces502 (502-0 through 502-7, one associated with each memory bank), a likeplurality of pointers 504 (504-0 through 504-7), an output processor505, one or more output interfaces 506 (506-0 through 506-7, one foreach multi-function multiport 150), a reservation table 508, an indirectcell processor 510, controller interface 512 and read controller 517.

a) Transfers Through the Input Switch

Round robin data handler 500 receives cells from each multi-functionmultiport and transfers them to output processor 505 for output to anappropriate memory bank 105 in global data buffer 104. Round robin datahandler 500 services the inputs (cells) received on input 30 interfaces501 in a round robin, time division multiplexed manner. That is, for agiven cell slot, one cell from each multi-function multiport is receivedat the round robin data handler 500 and subsequently transferred tooutput processor 505 for transfer at the next cell slot to a memory bank105 in global data buffer 104. At the next time cell slot, data handler500 transfers the next cell received from the same multi-functionmultiport to output processor 505 for transfer to a different memorybank. In one implementation, the next cell received is transferred tothe next memory bank (next in numerical order, modulo N) in the memoryarray. Alternatively, another time dependent permutation may be used tocontrol the transfer of successive cells from the same multi-functionmultiport.

Round robin data handler 500 and output processor 505 within the inputswitch 100 transfer cells out to global data buffer 104 on transmissionlines. Output processor 505 outputs one cell to each memory bank in asingle cell slot. One cell from each multifunction multiport is writtento global data buffer 104 per cell slot. Round robin data handler 500time division multiplexes the transfers to output processor 505 suchthat consecutive cells from the same multi-function multiport arewritten to consecutive memory banks 105 (modulo N) in global data buffer104.

Pointer 504 indicates the location in an associated memory bank to whichthe next cell will be written. Output processor 505 writes a cell to amemory location in a particular memory bank based on the next availableaddress in the bank as is indicated by the associated pointer 504.

b) Key Reading and the Linking Process

Round robin data handler 500 includes a key reading engine 514 fordetermining the key information associated with a first cell in a packetand a linking engine 515 for lining cells in the same packet.

The process of reading key information is known in the art. After thekey is determined for a given packet, it is stored temporarily in keybuffer 516 in input switch 100 until the entire packet has been storedin global data buffer 104. Each entry in the key buffer is referred toas a notification or “info cell” and includes a key, full address,offsets and an indirect cell indicator and can include otherinformation.

Linking engine 515 determines the starting address (full address) inmemory for where the first cell in a given packet is to be stored inmemory. The starting address includes the bank number in global databuffer 104 (the bank number which is assigned to store the cell by roundrobin data handler 500) and the first available address location in thedesignated bank (as is indicated by the associated pointer 504). Thestarting address is stored in key buffer 516 along with the associatedkey for the packet. When the next cell associated with the same packetarrives at switch 100, an offset associated with the offset at which thecell is to be written (relative to the full address) is computed andstored in key buffer 516. In one implementation, up to four offsets arestored. Each offset address is computed based on the relative offset inmemory between the location of the last cell in memory and the value ofthe pointer 504 associated with the current memory bank which is to bewritten.

If more than five data cells are included in a packet, then the indirectcell indicator for that packet is set, and the last offset indicates theaddress in memory where the first indirect cell associated with thepacket is stored. Indirect cells are described in greater detail belowand in copending application entitled “Separation of Data and Control ina Switching Device” filed Dec. 17, 1999 and assigned U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 09/466,864, the contents of which are expresslyincorporated herein by reference.

After the packet has been stored in memory, the associated notificationin key buffer 516 (a route lookup request) is forwarded through thecontroller interface 512 to the controller 106 for processing.Alternatively, the notification may be transferred after the first fivecells have been stored in memory.

As described above, the data cells are stored in the global buffer uponreceipt. The data path for the data packets flows directly from theinput port on which a packet is received (the multi-function multiport150) to the global data buffer 104. The data packets remain in theglobal data buffer 104 while a routing decision is made in a separatecontrol path using controller 106. The separation of the data path andcontrol path allows for the sharing of the memory resources among all ofthe input ports.

The linking or threading of cells for a packet is performed by using theoffsets described above and indirect cells. Offsets are used to linkcells in a packet. Offsets may be stored along with key information androuted through controller 106 (FIG. 2B) or may be stored in indirectcells. In one implementation, if a cell contains 5 cells or less, noindirect cells are required to be used. Indirect cell processor 510performs the linking of cells in memory for a given packet. Indirectcell processor 510 generates indirect cells for storage in global databuffer 104. Indirect cells contain offset information associated withthe relative offset in memory space between contiguous cells in thepacket. Indirect cell processor includes indirect cell memory 520 forstoring indirect cell data during the formation of indirect cells.

As was described above, when a packet is received, the linking engineprocesses the first five cells and stores linking information in theform of a start address and four offsets in key buffer 516. In the eventmore than five cells are contained within a packet, the indirect cellprocessor takes over for the linking engine and computes the offsetsassociated with the locations in memory where the remaining cells in thepacket are stored. Round robin processor 500 passes cells to the outputprocessor 505 for transfer to an associated memory bank in global databuffer 104. Round robin processor 500 enables the indirect cellprocessor when the packet being processed contains more than 5 cells(based on header information included within the first cell). At thetime for writing the fifth cell to memory, indirect cell processor 510stores in indirect cell memory 520 the address (the “indirect celladdress”) associated with the location in memory at which the fifth cellwould have been written if it had been the last cell in the packet. Theindirect cell address indicates the location in memory where theindirect cell is to be written when full (or when the last cell of thepacket is processed).

When an indirect cell is full (having stored offsets in all availablelocations except the last field), then the indirect cell processorstores the offset associated with the location in memory where the nextindirect cell is located. Thereafter, the full indirect cell is writtento its appropriate place in memory. The writing of the indirect cell tomemory coincides with the receipt of an indirect cell placeholder by theinput switch 100 from the associated multi-function multiport 150. Thisprocess continues until the last cell in a packet is stored in memory.At that time, the last indirect cell is written to memory, and theassociated entry from the key buffer 516 is transferred to thecontroller 106 for processing. For a given packet, all indirect cellsare written to the same memory bank in the global memory buffer.

As often will be the case, the last cell of a packet will not coincidewith the timing required to write the completed indirect cellimmediately into memory. This is because packet length is completelyarbitrary. The end of a packet will likely not coincide with the lastavailable entry of an indirect cell. When a packet has completed (allcells have been received by the input switch) and a last entry in theindirect cell is written, the indirect cell is free to be written tomemory. However, the writing will be delayed until the proper time,hence the term delayed indirect cell. A delayed indirect cell is aindirect cell that is the last indirect cell associated with a packet.It is delayed, because it is written to memory after the rest of thepacket has been written to memory. The timing of the write to memory isdictated by the address which is reserved for the indirect cell. As wasdescribed above, at the time for the creation of an indirect cell, itsposition in memory is reserved. The delayed indirect cell will bewritten to memory at the next time slot available for the particularmulti-function multiport to write to the particular memory bank afterthe packet has been completed. The timing of the write to memory ofdelayed indirect cells coincides with the receipt of a delayed indirectplaceholder from the appropriate multi-function multiport 150.

c) Transfers to Memory

At each cell slot, output processor 505 generates a cell that includes aread request source field, read address, write address and data field(cell data received from multiport 150). The read request source fieldindicates the output port (in the particular multi-function multiport150) requesting the read (destination output port). Output processor 505receives read requests from read controller 517 and bundles the readrequest with any write request received from round robin data handler500 destined for the same memory bank. At each cell slot, outputprocessor 505 provides a cell which may include a write and read requestto each memory bank 105 in global data buffer 104.

Read controller 517 controls the transfer of read request signalsflowing from input switch 100 out memory interface 502 to the individualmemory banks in global data buffer 104. Read controller 517 receivesread requests from each multi-function multiport through outputinterfaces 506. The format of each request includes sourceidentification (output port) and a full address in memory which is to beread. At each cell slot, each multifunction multiport port may generatea read request for processing by switch 100 to read a memory location inglobal data buffer 104, resulting in the reading of a cell (a readreply) from a memory bank 105 (on a subsequent cell slot) to outputswitch 102.

Read controller 517 loads a reservation table 508 as requests totransfer packets are received from the various multi-function multiports150. The reservation table is loaded such that at every cell slot asingle read request is generated for each bank of memory 105. Thestructure of the reservation table is described in greater detail in“Separation of Data and Control in a Switching Device”. At each cellslot, each multi-function multiport is capable of requesting a read froma single memory bank 105 in global data buffer 104. Associated withreservation table 508 is a read pointer. The pointer points to a nextrow in the reservation table to be read. Rows ahead of the read pointercorrespond to requests that will be queued at a later cell slot time. Inone implementation, the pointer moves at least one row in each cell slottime.

Memory Architecture

Referring now to FIG. 6, main memory 104 is used as temporary bufferstorage for packets flowing into the system on input streams 1052 andout of the system on output streams 1054. Main memory is divided intotwo distinct parts: a global data buffer 104 that is used to storeincoming packets while one or more lookup engines in the controller 106determine the outgoing stream for each packet; and packet notificationqueues 319 that are used to store packet pointers (notifications) afterthe outgoing stream has been determined. Notification queues 319 areassociated with outgoing streams, whereas the global data buffer 104forms a common pool shared amongst all the streams.

Referring now to FIG. 7, main memory includes a plurality of memorybanks. Associated with each memory bank is an input switch interface (aninput port) 304 and output switch interface (an output port) 316. Ateach cell slot, each memory bank receives at most one write and one readrequest via input switch interface 304. The write requests areassociated with cells received from a multi-function multiport 150. Readrequests reflect a request for cell data to be transferred from a memorybank to output switch 102 for ultimate transfer to a requestingmultifunction multiport 150.

The memory in the multi-function multiport configuration is physicallydistributed across a number of banks b, one bank for each activemulti-function multipart in the system. Each bank is divided into twocontiguous, non-overlapping regions referred to as global data area 105and the notification area (notification queues 319). The global dataarea for a bank constitutes 1/b of the memory of the global data buffer104. The notification area provides space for queuing notifications thatwill be sent out on the line output interface 308 for a givenmulti-function multiport. Typically, the global data area is four timeslarger than the notification area; this factor derives from the ratiobetween data size and notification size for the shortest packet.

In one implementation, each bank's memory bandwidth is sufficient forreading and writing packets from a full-duplex OC-48 interface as wellas for queuing and dequeuing notifications for the worst-case example ofsingle-cell packets. Thus, both the aggregate memory size and theaggregate memory bandwidth scale linearly with the number of activemulti-function multiports b in the system.

In one implementation, each memory bank is implemented as two sub-banksusing two 72-bit wide SDRAM (static dynamic random access memory) DIMM's(dynamic in-line memory modules) cycling at 125 MHZ. The sub-banks aretransparent to the input and output switch resulting in what appears tobe one continuous bank from the perspective of the switches. However,the sub-bank architecture allows for better throughput. Each DIMM has a72-bit wide ECC (error correction code) protected data path going to 9SDRAM chips each of which is 8 bits wide. The two DIMM's have separateaddress busses and are addressed independently of one another. TheDIMM's are interleaved on bit 0 of the 23-bit address. In oneimplementation, the smallest memory bank configuration is 32 MBytes,using 16 Mbit chips and the largest is 512 MBytes, using 256 Mbit chips.

As was described above, a bank can receive at most one read request andone write request every cell slot. Since a cell slot is 20 clock cyclesat 125 MHZ, this works out to, a peak bandwidth demand of 400 MBytes/secfor reads and 400 MBytes/sec for writes. The worst case notificationload occurs for single cell packets. For unicast traffic, this load isexactly 114 the data bandwidth which works out to 100 MBytes/sec forreads and 100 MBytes/sec for writes. In this implementation, the totalpeak memory bandwidth needed is therefore 1 GByte/sec.

In this implementation, the peak transfer rate of each DIMM is 1GByte/sec, but the sustained rate depends on the actual mix of reads andwrites and how the addresses are distributed over the internal DIMMbanks. In practice, each DIMM is expected to deliver a sustained datarate of around 650 MBytes/sec. The total of 1.3 GBytes/sec supplied bythe two groups is 30% larger than the maximum sustained requirement of 1GByte/sec. The 30% headroom provides a way to sustain instantaneousloads where one DIMM has more references, directed to it than the other.The memory controller for the two DIMM's resides in the multifunctionmultiport.

In one implementation, all banks are made the same size andapproximately 1I5th of the memory in each bank is allocated to thenotification area and ⅘th to the global data area. The purpose of thisallocation is to make it exceedingly unlikely for a stream to run out ofmemory because of space in its notification queue. With a worst casepacket size of 64 bytes, notifications (sized at 16 bytes) need ¼th theamount of storage that packet data needs, which is exactly theproportion allocated. Any cell in the global data buffer may be accessedvia its physical cell pointer, which identifies the physical bank numberand the address of the cell within the bank. The physical cell pointerdefines a system-widephysical address space. To simplify addresscomputations, as well as to provide a mechanism to detect old packets,accesses to the global packet buffer are performed through asystem-widevirtual address space that maps to the physical addressspace.

Incoming packets are broken up into as many cells as needed and thecells are written to the global packet data buffer as they arrive asdescribed above. The global data buffer is treated as a single largecircular buffer. The input switch maintains an array of write pointers,one per active bank, to keep track of where to write the next cell. Thepointers start out at one end of the buffer and advance until theyeventually wrap around and overwrite packets that were written a longtime ago. An ageing mechanism is used to guard against reading cellsthat may have been overwritten by subsequent packets. The cells ofpackets arriving on a given stream are interleaved strictly across theactive banks to spread the bandwidth load.

Controller

Referring now to FIG. 8, controller 106 includes controller memory 109,route lookup engine 110, input switch interface 800 and output switchinterface 802. Controller 106 receives a route lookup request from inputswitch 100 at the input switch interface 800. In one implementation, aplurality of route lookup engines 110 are included in controller 106,each receiving lookup requests in round-robin fashion so as to speed therouting process. In one implementation, controller memory 109 is afour-bank static random access memory (SRAM) that requires thirty sixroute lookup engines 110 to service at full bandwidth.

The present invention is scalable with respect to performance. That is,the number of route lookup engines 110 included within the controllermay be increased to provide higher performance without requiring anincrease in memory size. In one implementation, the number of routelookup engines is nines times as great as the number of memory banks incontroller memory 109. Alternatively, lesser cost and performance unitsmay use lesser numbers of route lookup engines 110 or more engines asrequired.

a) Controller Operation

Referring to FIGS. 2B, 3 and 8, in operation, packets are received at aninput port 150, transferred to input switch 100 and stored temporarilyin memory 104. When the packet is received by switch 100, a keyextraction engine reads the key from the packet and transfers the keyand other information (the notification) to controller 106. The inputswitch also includes a transfer engine for transferring packets receivedfrom an input port 150 to memory 104.

The key includes at least destination information and may also includesource information, a flow identifier and physical source information(input port ID). The key can be located in the header field associatedwith the first block of data in a packet. The header may contain otherinformation (ISO layer 2 and layer 3 headers), such information ispassed to memory for storage. The process of reading key informationfrom a packet is known in the art. The present invention accommodateskeys of various types. For example, keys for various protocols may bedesignated (lPV4, lPV6, etc.). The length of the key is user definable.In 10 general, the key is derived from the header, but portions may alsobe derived from the payload (data field associated with the packet).

When the controller receives the notification information, it mustdetermine a key type. In one implementation, a plurality of key typesare defined. The user may define up to 4 types of keys, each havingvariable length. The key type can be defined by a two bit field in theheader. A lookup of the two bit field is used to determine anappropriate starting hop (as described below).

Thereafter, an assigned route lookup engine 110 performs a lookup forthe notification. The lookup can include a plurality of chained lookupoperations, one of which can be a jtree search. A jtree (jtrie) is adata structure that is used to locate the best (longest) matching routefor a given key. At the completion of the lookup, the route lookupengine returns a result which includes the output port associated withthe destination. The result and other information (source ID, flow ID,packet length, quality of service and statistical information) forrouting the packet through the router combine to form a resultnotification. The result notification is transferred from the controller106 to the output switch 102. Upon receiving the result notification,the output switch 102 initiates the transfer of the packet from memory104 to the respective output port 150 associated with the result.

In one implementation, the data structure for the result notificationincludes a destination mask, a next hop index pointer, full address,offsets and packet length. The destination mask is used to indicatewhich multi-function multiport connected to output switch 102 is totransfer the packet. In one implementation, the result notification maybe sent to more than one multifunction multiport resulting in thebroadcast of the associated packet. Associated with each multi-functionmultiport 150 is a storage 310. The next hop index pointer points to alocation in storage (memory) 310. Storage 310 is used to store mediaheader information associated with a particular type of packet transfer.Next hop addresses, media headers and storage 310 will be described ingreater detail below in association with the output section ofmulti-function multiport 150. The full address indicates the startingaddress in the global data buffer where the first cell in the packet isstored. As was described above, offsets provide linking information forretrieving cells or an indirect cell associated with the packet. Thepacket length indicates the length of the associated packet and may beused to determine if indirect cells will have to be retrieved.

b) Route Lookup Engine

Each route lookup engine performs packet (key) processing. Packetprocessing is the process of examining the contents of a packet headerand performing functions such as route lookup, filtering, or flowpolicing based on the values of fields in the header. The result ofpacket processing determines how a packet should be forwarded in therouter.

Referring now to FIG. 9, each route lookup engine 110 includes a keybuffer 902, a result buffer 904, a key engine 905, one or morespecialized engines for processing packets 906, a current key pointer908 and starting hop table 910. In one implementation, each route lookupengine 110 includes a general purpose key engine 905 and pluralspecialized engines 906. The general purpose key engine 905 receives thekey from the input switch, loads the key and result buffers, performsinitializations, unloads the buffers and performs other operations insupport of the lookup process. Specialized engines operate oninstructions or data structures stored in memory 920 to perform aparticular function. Functions can be selected from lookup operations,filtering, policing, management or other functions. In oneimplementation, the specialized engines can be selected from the groupof a firewall engine 906 a, a policing engine 906 b, index engine 906 cand trio search engine 906 d. Each of these engines can be invoked toperform an operation and assist in determining a forwarding decision fora packet. As will be described below, more than one engine can beinvoked to operate on each packet.

Key engine 905 stores the fields from a packet that have been selectedto be part of the key for packet processing in key buffer 902. Any partof a packet can be selected to be part of the key, depending on theapplication. The key extraction process is completed in the input switch102 as described above. The results of the key extraction process (theextracted key) and other information forms the notification that ispassed to the controller 106. Any part of the notification can beextracted by the key engine 905 and written to the key buffer 902. A“key” can consist of two parts. In one implementation, the first eightbytes of the key are constructed either from the contents of thenotification for the packet, or built from intermediate results of routelookups. The remaining bytes of the key, which are variable in length upto 41 bytes, are those extracted from the payload of the packet. In oneimplementation, key buffer 902 is a 64 byte buffer, physically locatedin the first 8 double words in the key engine's memory (not shown).Fixed data is stored in bytes 0-7 of the buffer while the variable keydata is stored in bytes 8 and beyond.

The first 2 bytes of the key buffer are used as an overwrite area;various intermediate next hops may write data in this area to beaccessed by subsequent lookup stages. These two bytes are initialized tozero. The first 4 bits of the second word are also used as an overwritearea for sampling indications. Sampling refers to a process offorwarding a copy of a packet to an external system for processing. Apacket that is designated to be sampled is switched by the router asdefined in the notification, but a copy of the packet (or portion of thepacket) is created and forwarded to a system for further processing. Thelookup process executed by the route lookup engine may include thedesignation of a packet for sampling. The further processing can includea management function that can be provided either on or, more typically,off the router. Packets can be designated to be forwarded to themanagement function for analysis. For example, a sampling of all of thepackets that are from a particular source can be sent to the managementfunction for further analysis. The sampling bits can be set to designatea packet as requiring further processing. In this way, when the (result)notification for the packet is processed, a copy of the packet (orportion of the packet) can be forwarded to the management function forfurther analysis. The sampling bits can be set and modified in thelookup process. As such, whether a particular packet is a candidate fora sampling operation can be decided based on a lookup result. In oneimplementation, the low order bit (sn[0]) is initialized to the value ofan incoming sampling (SN) bit in the notification from the input switch,and the other three bits are initialized to zero. In this way, a deviceupstream from the controller (e.g., the input switch 25 or themultifunction multiport) can designate some of the packets for sampling.In one implementation, the sampling bits are a mask for a predefinednumber of sampling operations. That is, the setting of a bit in thesample bits indicates a sampling operation to be performed.Alternatively, the sampling bits can be a set to indicate that aparticular packet is a candidate for sampling. The decision as towhether or not the candidate is actually sampled can be made outside thelookup engine based on a programmable probability algorithm.

As various algorithms process the key, the key buffer can be used tocommunicate from one processing step to another. More specifically, thekey buffer can include one or more rewrite bytes. The rewrite bytes forma data area that can be used by one processing step in a lookup (onelookup operation) to directly pass data to another processing step. Inone implementation, key buffer 902 includes 2 rewrite bytes.

In one implementation, the format of the fixed and variable areas in thekey buffer 902 is as shown in Table 1-1.

TABLE 1-1 Key Buffer Format 31 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 1716 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 10 rewrite1 rewrite0 packet lengthsample TE TCP Q1 Q0 OP 0 0 incoming interface index sn[3:0] variablelength key extracted from packet . . . . . .

Associated with key buffer 902 is the current key pointer 908 thatpoints to the location in the key buffer 902 that should be treated asthe beginning of the key in the current processing step. The current keypointer 908 can be moved from field to field in the key buffer 902 fordifferent lookups that are chained together. By default, at the start ofa lookup, the current key pointer points to the start of the variablelength key. The current key pointer 908 is maintained by key engine 905.

The key engine 905 stores the result of packet processing which isinformation on how the packet should be forwarded in the result buffer904. When multiple lookups are performed for the same packet, the resultmay be modified at the end of each lookup. The contents of the resultbuffer 904 at the end of the last lookup for a packet is the finalresult. In one implementation, the contents of the result buffer are asshown in Table 1-2.

TABLE 1-2 Result Buffer Format 31 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 1817 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 10 next_hop_index dest_mask n 0s_x x s_PR PRwhere:

-   -   n=next hop set bit. If n is 1, some next hop has caused the next        hop index and destination mask (dest_mask) fields to be set. If        n is zero the next hop has not been set and the dest_mask is        effectively zero.    -   s_PR=priority set bit. Defaults to zero. If s_PR is 1, some next        hop has caused the PR bits to be overwritten.    -   PR=the priority bits. Set by default to the priority bits in the        incoming notification. May be modified by next hops with the        s_PR bit set.    -   s_x=“x” set bit. Defaults to zero. If s_x is 1, some next hop        has caused the “x” bit to be overwritten.    -   x=“extra” bit. Set by default to the P[2] bit in the incoming        notification. May be modified by next hops with the s_x bit set.

Starting hop table 910 includes starting hops for each packet type. Thestarting hop table 920 can be shared by all of the route lookup engines110 in controller 106. Entries in the starting hop table 920 can be ofthe form of a final next hop or an intermediate next hop. Next hop datastructures and the processing of next hops are described in greaterdetail below.

c) Packet Processing

Packets are processed in accordance with a next hop instruction. A nexthop is a data structure stored in memory that either contains the finalresult of packet processing for a packet or acts as a link to anotherlookup for the same packet. The key engine 905 receives a next hopinstruction, and either processes the instruction directly, or invokes aspecialized engine within the route lookup engine to process the nexthop. A “final next hop” contains information on the final destination ofthe packet. An “intermediate next hop” is a link to the next lookup stepand contains a command specifying the lookup algorithm type, a memoryaddress pointer to the beginning of the lookup data structure, and anoptional pointer offset for moving the current key pointer to adifferent key buffer field. An “extended next hop” is a special type ofintermediate next hop that contains a memory address pointer to a listof instructions (more than one next hop can be pointing to the samelist). These instructions specify whether to modify certain fields inthe key buffer and may place lookup results in the result buffer. Thelist can end with an intermediate next hop, a final next hop or withouta next hop (where no next hop is specified, the lookup process ends andthe current contents of the result buffer are used as the result). A“starting next hop” is the next hop specifying the first lookup step fora packet and is either of the form of a final next hop or anintermediate next hop. Starting next hops are stored in the starting hoptable 910. The data structure for the next hops is described in greaterdetail below.

Referring now to FIGS. 9 and 10, a method 1000 for packet processing isshown. Packets 10 are processed by the key engine 905 in four steps:initiate, lookup, link, and terminate.

In the initiate step 1002, the key buffer 902 is loaded withpre-selected fields from the notification 1004. The result buffer 904and current key pointer 908 are initialized to a default values 1006. Apre-selected field from the packet is then used to index the startinghop table 910 1008. Different starting next hops correspond toindependent packet processing paths. The protocol type of a packet canbe used as the index for selecting the “starting next hop” so that eachprotocol can be processed in different ways.

Once the starting next hop is obtained, the link portion 1024 of theprocess begins. The link portion 1024 of the process includes threechecks. Each of the checks evaluates a current next hop. By current nexthop we refer to either the starting next hop, intermediate next hopreturned from a lookup operation or a result returned after processingan extended next hop. First, a check is made to determine if the currentnext hop (the starting next hop, intermediate next hop or result) is anextended next hop 1020. If the next hop is an extended next hop, thenthe function specified by the extended next hop (e.g., policing,sampling, counting or other function) is executed 1022. The contents ofthe key buffer and the result buffer may be modified before the nextlookup step is performed. By allowing the modification of the contentsof the key buffer 902, a subsequent lookup operation can use the resultsfrom an earlier lookup step as part of its key. By allowing themodification of the contents of the result buffer 904, intermediateresults can be stored. If not modified by a subsequent lookup step, theintermediate result, or some fields from it, may eventually form thefinal result. At the completion of the execution of the associatedfunction and the modification of the buffers, a result is returned(1023). The result can be in the form of a next hop. Thereafter, theprocess continues back at step 1020.

In the second check of the link portion 1024, the current next hop isevaluated to determine if it is of the form of an intermediate next hop1016. The check can be performed after the first check performed in step1020 fails (i.e., the current next hop is not an extended next hop). Ifthe current next hop is an intermediate next hop, then the processcontinues at step 1018 where the current key pointer is set to thelocation specified by the intermediate next hop and a lookup isperformed on the packet. The intermediate next hop acts as a linkbetween two lookups. The intermediate next hop specifies the type of thenext lookup (e.g., lookup engine 906 to invoke), the memory location ofthe lookup data structure (e.g. index table, jtree, firewall filterprogram), and the new location of the current key pointer 908.

After the current key pointer is set to the new location in step 1018(as required), the lookup portion 1014 of the process is invoked. In oneimplementation, the lookup portion can include the invocation of one ormore specialized engines in the route lookup engine 110. In the lookupportion 1014, the key (or portion of the key or other notification data)to be operated on is extracted from the key buffer (1010) and aspecified lookup operation is executed (1012). The lookup operation maygo on for any number of clock cycles and any number of memory referencesuntil a result, in the form of a next hop, is obtained 1012. Thereafter,the process continues at step 1020.

If the current next hop returned is not an intermediate next hop, thethird check of the link process 1024 is invoked. More specifically, ifthe check in step 1016 determines that the current next hop is not anintermediate next hop, then a check is made to determine if the currentnext hop is a final next hop (1017). This completes the linking portion1024.

After the check in step 1017 is performed the terminate portion 1030 ofthe process is invoked. In the terminate portion, packet processing forthe current packet is terminated and a result is returned. Morespecifically, if the current next hop is not a final next hop theprocess continues at step 1028. If the current next hop is a final nexthop, then the process continues at step 1026 where any information inthe current next hop relating to the final destination of the packet canbe copied into the appropriate fields in the result buffer (1026), asrequired. The contents of the result buffer is then unloaded (1028) andused to forward the current packet through the router. Thereafter theprocess ends.

d) Processing Algorithms

The basic routing in a IP (internet protocol) network is done based on alongest match lookup on a field of bits in the packet header. To enhancethis routing and make it more intelligent, the system adds processingfeatures to be able to filter the packets based on some fields in thepacket header. Enhancements have been added to allow some accountingability and by also providing flow control based on a policing engine.

Packet processing includes processing the fields of a packet header,sometimes also known as a key, to perform the required functions likeroute lookup, filtering or flow policing. Key information for a packetcan be processed using several different algorithms to generate aresultant notification (result) which is then used to forward the datapacket appropriately.

In one implementation, three base algorithms can be selected from forpacket processing and include an index table lookup, variable lengthbest match lookup (i.e., a jtree lookup) and a firewall lookup. Each ofthe algorithms uses a next hop data structure to initiate processing. Atthe end of each processing step (after invoking an algorithm to operateon a designated portion of the key or executing a specified function)the result is also a data structure in the form of a next hop. Based onthe variety of next hops one can initiate new processing steps or endthe overall packet processing function. The next hops thus form theprimary data structure that can be used to initiate a lookup, chaindifferent lookups and terminate a lookup. In addition, the next hop datastructure also include provisions for supporting a variety of addedfeatures like packet counting, packet sampling and flow based policingof packets.

1) Index Engine

An index table lookup is performed by invoking the index engine 906 c toextract the specified bits of index from the key and add the specifiedbits to a base pointer to compute the address of a next hop to read (seebelow for next hop data structure). Associated with the index engine 906c are one or more index tables 916 stored in a memory 920. Memory 920includes the various data structures operated on by the various enginesin the route lookup engine 110. In one implementation, memory 920 isseparate from the route lookup engine 110 and can be accessed through amemory interface 911. In the implementation shown, memory 920 includes asingle index table 916 but plural index tables can be included in memory920. The key engine 905 reads a current next hop, and if the lookupcalls for an index search, invokes the index engine 906 c to perform anindex lookup on a specified index table 916. An index search next hopincludes a designator for the position in the key to use in the indexsearch and the index table 916 to use.

In one implementation, an index table 916 includes a variable number ofdoublewords (at least one) and has a starting address located at adoubleword boundary. The first word of the index table 916 contains thetable size and description of the location (relative to the current keypointer) and number of the key bits to be extracted as an index. Thesecond word of the index table 916 holds the default next hop, which isread if the index exceeds the size of the index table 916. The baseaddress of the index table 916, to which the index is added to computean address to read if no overflow occurs, is implicitly the address ofthe third word (i.e. second doubleword) of the table. Each entry in anindex table 916 includes a one word “next hop”. The memory allocationfor routes is rounded up to a doubleword boundary, but otherwise is theminimum necessary to hold the route information. An index table 916 canbe defined to be a multiple of two words long in contiguous memory. Inone implementation, the format of the start of an index table is shownin Table 1-3.

TABLE 1-3 Index Table Format 31 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 1817 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 10 table size in doublewordsdont i_off idx_nbits care default next hop next hop 0 . . .where:

-   -   the i_off field is a bit offset from the location of the current        key pointer to the first bit of the index. The value can be set        to 0-7 inclusive, which allows the start of the index to be        anywhere in the byte the current key pointer points to.    -   the idx_nbits field indicates the number of bits that should be        extracted to form the index. Valid values are 0-22 inclusive. A        value of 0 in this field causes the default next hop to be        unconditionally read. A value larger than 22 is invalid and        causes the notification to be discarded.    -   the number of pairs of next hops in the table (exclusive of the        default next hop) is indicated by the table size field. If the        index extracted is index[21:0], the address of the (descriptor        word of the) index table is table_address, and the table size in        doublewords is table_descriptor [31: 11], the address from which        the next hop result is extracted is computed as:

if (index[21: 1] >= table_description[31: 11]) then next_hop_address =table_address + 1; else     next_hop_address = table_address + 2 +index.

2) Trie Search Engine (i.e., Variable Length Best Match Lookup)

If the current next hop indicates a tree based search is to beperformed, the key engine 905 invokes the trie search engine 906 d toperform a lookup operation that includes a longest match lookuptraversing a radix trie data structure (referred to herein as a“jtree”). The search is based on the specified number of bits at aparticular starting point in the key buffer. The process for performingthe longest best match lookup is described in greater detail incopending application “Separation of Data and Control in a SwitchingDevice”. The result of the longest match lookup of the key bits is anext hop. More specifically, a route in a jtree consists of a one word“next hop”, at a double-word aligned memory location, followed by zeroor more words of 10 prefix information. One or more jtrees 914 arestored in memory 920. A next hop specifying a jtree search includesidentifying information for the particular jtree to be searched. Thestorage of a jtree in memory 920 is described in greater detail in“Separation of Data and Control in a Switching Device”.

3) Firewall Engine

The firewall engine 906 a is an instruction-based, protocol-independentmatch engine which operates on data in the key buffer. When a next hopspecifies a firewall lookup, the key engine 905 invokes the firewallengine 906 a which in turn retrieves a firewall filter program frommemory 920. The program includes a stream of one or more instructionsthat can be executed to perform the requested firewall services. Mostinstructions are “match” instructions, that is, the instruction takessome data from the key buffer and matches it to the instruction'soperands. A “true” match causes the next instruction in the stream to beexecuted, a “false” match causes a forward branch to be taken. A byteindex to the data item in the key buffer to be matched, and an offsetfor the branch forward, is included in the instruction word. The matchdata is included in the operands.

The other instruction type is an “action” instruction. Actioninstructions may carry some fields unique to the instruction in theremainder of the 32-bit word, but typically don't have operands. Someaction instructions terminate the search and indicate the result toreturn in the form of a next hop structure. The firewall engine 906 aand firewall filter programs are described in greater detail below.

e) Next Hop

There are several “next hop” formats. One of these is a “final” nexthop, which terminates

the search and contains a final result for the lookup. The others are“intermediate” next hops, which indicate how a further search should beperformed.

1) Final Next Hop

In one implementation, bit 10 of the next hop is the “final” bit. If thefinal bit is set, the next hop is in “final” format, otherwise it is oneof the “intermediate” formats. In one implementation, the format for afinal hop is as shown in Table 1-4.

TABLE 1-4 Final Next Hop Format 31 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 1918 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 10 next hop index x a s PR fm dest_maskwhere:

-   -   f=final bit set to 1 for final next hops, set to 0 otherwise    -   m=multicast bit. If set, and if this next hop is attached to a        route in a jtree, a bit “interface index” is appended to the        route prefix data which must be matched against the incoming        interface index in the key buffer. If there is a mismatch the        packet is discarded. The m-bit is ignored in index table        lookups.    -   a=accounting bit. If set, and if this next hop is attached to a        route in a jtree, a three word packet+byte counter pair is        appended to the prefix (and multicast interface index, if        present) data. These counters must be incremented to account for        packets and bytes matching this route. This bit is ignored in        index table lookups.    -   s=set bit for the x and PR bits. If “s” is 1, x and PR are        copied into the corresponding fields in the result buffer. If        “s” is 0, x and PR in the result buffer remain unchanged. The        outgoing notification will have the final values of x and PR in        the result buffer. Note that {x, PR} in the result buffer        default to the incoming priority bits {P[2], P[1:O]}, so the        outgoing notification will have the incoming priority bits if no        next hop modifies them.    -   PR=new priority bits. If “s” is 1, the corresponding field in        the result buffer will be overwritten by PR. As a result, the        outgoing notification will have these new priority bits. The        priority bits are not changed if “s” is 0.    -   x=new “extra” bit. If “s” is 1, the corresponding field in the        result buffer will be overwritten by “x”, As a result, the        outgoing notification will have this new “x” bit. “X” bit is not        changed if “s” is O. The hardware picks up this “x” bit and        forwards it to the output port.    -   the destination mask (dest_mask) field is a 9-bit mask        indicating where the packet should be forwarded to Bits 0        through 7, when set, indicate that the packet should be sent to        physical banks 0 through 7, inclusive. When bit 8 is set the        packet is locally destined.    -   the “next hop index” is a 16-bit value used by other parts of        the forwarding system to determine outgoing processing of the        packet.

The execution of the final next hop causes the destination mask and nexthop index fields to be copied into the result buffer. The lookup processthen ends and key engine 905 uploads the latest results in the resultbuffer including forming an outgoing notification that includes theresults. In one implementation, packet filtering (filtering or policing)can be performed based on the data included in the final next hop. Forexample, in one implementation, if the destination mask in the resultbuffer is set to a value of 9′hO at the end of a lookup, the packet isdiscarded and a discard counter (CF_DBR_CNTR) is incremented. Final nexthops cause the lookup to end, so final next hops with dest_mask=9′hOwill always cause the packet to be dropped.

2) Intermediate Next Hops

All other next hops are “intermediate format” next hops (hereinafter,intermediate next hop). Intermediate next hops can he chained to allowfor plural lookup operations to be performed on a single packet. Forexample, a packet can he filtered, subject to a jtree lookup todetermine a route, then subsequently filtered again prior to determininga final routing decision. The three lookup operations (filter, jtreesearch, filter) can be specified by chaining next hops. The process forchaining next hops is described in greater detail below. Oneimplementation for the format of an intermediate next hop is as shown inTable 1-5.

TABLE 1-5 Intermediate Next Hop Format 31 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 2120 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 10 0 Fidwhere:

fid is the format identifier (ID) for the intermediate next hop. In oneimplementation, there are 5 fid's including:

-   -   0—jtree lookup    -   1—firewall/index table lookup    -   2—jtree/index table ID lookup    -   3—multiple next hops    -   4—extended next hop

In one implementation, if an undefined intermediate next hop (e.g.,fid=3 ′h5, 3′h6, 3′h7) is encountered, the lookup will end immediately,the packet is dropped, and a discard counter (CF_DBSFT_CNTR counter) isincremented.

a) Jtree Lookup Intermediate Next Hop (fid=O)

In one implementation, a jtree lookup has an intermediate next hopformat as is shown in Table 1-6.

TABLE 1-6 Jtree Lookup Intermediate Next Hop Format 31 30 29 28 27 26 2524 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 10 8-bytedouble-word memory address 0 R 000 byte_offsetwhere:

-   -   bits [31:6] of the next hop, with bits [5:0] hardwired to zero,        is a tree pointer—to the root of a jtree to be searched.    -   the byte_offset is the offset to change the current key pointer        by. The value of the byte_offset field is added to the current        key pointer modulus 64. That is, a byte_offset of 0 will keep        the current key pointer unchanged, a byte_offset of 1 would move        the current key pointer to the right (i.e. forward) one byte in        the key, and a byte_offset of 63 would move the current key        pointer one byte left (i.e. backward) in the key. If the current        key pointer is moved to a location beyond the end of the key        delivered from the input switch, an error occurs (equivalent to        a truncated key error when doing tree lookups). The packet is        dropped, and a discard counter (CF_DTK_CNTR discard counter) is        incremented.

b) Firewall I Index Table Lookup Intermediate Next Hop (fid=I)

In one implementation, a firewall/index table lookup has a next hopformat as is shown in Table 1-7.

TABLE 1-7 Firewall I Index Table Intermediate Next Hop Format 31 30 2928 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 210 8-byte double-word memory address 0 i 001 byte_offsetwhere:

-   -   i=index table bit. If this bit is 1, the next lookup to be done        is an index table lookup. If this bit is 0 the next lookup to be        done is a firewall filter program.    -   bits [31:10] of the next hop is the word address of the first        word of the firewall filter program or index table, depending on        the setting of the “i” bit.    -   the byte_offset is the offset to change the current key pointer        by.

c) Jtree/Index Table ID Lookup (fid=2)

In one implementation, a jtree/index table ID lookup has a next hopformat as is shown in Table 1-8.

TABLE 1-8 Jtree/Index Table ID Intermediate Next Hop Format 31 30 29 2827 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 10rewrite byte rb o S_x X s_PR PR Byte_offset 0 i 010 table_idwhere:

-   -   i=index table lookup. If the “i” bit is set to 1, the lookup        that is done next is an index table lookup. The table_id refers        to the entry in the 64-entry on-chip index table directory from        which to get the index table descriptor and start the lookup. If        the “i” bit is set to zero, the lookup that is done next is a        jtree lookup. The table_id refers to the on-chip jump (for        table_id 0 or 1 and jump table enabled) or tid table (table_id 2        to 63 or jump table not enabled) entry from which to start the        lookup.    -   table_id is a 6 bit index. If the “i” bit is set to 1, table_id        is the index table descriptor pointing to the index table into        which the search will be continued. If the “i” bit is set to        zero, table_id is the jtree root pointer pointing to the tree        into which the search will be continued.    -   byte_offset is the offset to the current key pointer (i.e. as in        the fid=O intermediate next hop above).    -   s_x=set bit for the “x” bit. If s_x is 1, “x” is copied into the        corresponding field in the result buffer. If s_x is 0, “x” in        the result buffer remains unchanged.    -   x=extra bit. Copied into the corresponding field in the result        buffer ifs x is set.    -   s_PR=set bit for the PR bits. If s_PR is 1, PR is copied into        the corresponding field in the result buffer. If s_PR is 0, PR        in the result buffer remains unchanged.    -   PR=the priority bits. Copied into the corresponding field in the        result buffer if s PR is set.    -   o=set bit for the rewrite field. If “o” is 1, the rewrite byte        in location [31:24] is copied into one of the first 2 bytes of        the key, with the rb (i.e. rewrite byte) field specifying which        byte is rewritten.    -   rb=specifies whether rewrite byte 0 (rb=0) or rewrite byte 1        (rb=1) should be overwritten if the “o” bit is set.

The rewrite, x, and PR updates take effect before the jtree or indextable ID lookup begin. For example, if {rb, o}=(1, 1), and byte_offsetmoves the current key pointer to point to rewrite1, the key buffer isupdated with the new rewrite byte in the next hop, and then the fid=2lookup is performed using the new rewrite byte value as the key.

d) Multiple Next Hop Intermediate Next Hop (fid=3)

A multiple next hop can be used to perform load balancing operations.Multiple next hops can be designated to alleviate loading conditions forany particular hop. In one implementation, the multiple next hops arelisted, and a selection can be made based on loading or otherconsiderations. In one implementation, the router can be configured fora balanced, unbalanced or incoming interface mode of operation.

In balanced mode, the particular next hop is randomly selected from thedesignated group of next hop candidates. In one implementation, theselection is made by taking a hash of the key and based on the hashedvalue, assigning the packet to a particular one of the candidate nexthops. Alternatively, the selection can be made by selecting a randomnumber or by pseudo random means that take into account history or otherconsiderations in making the determination.

In unbalanced mode, weights can be assigned to individual candidate nexthops, and a weight affected decision can be made to select a next hopfrom the candidate next hops. The weights can be assigned to supportcertain quality of service or priority service considerations.

The incoming interface mode can be used to screen packets depending onthe type of next hop being processed. A multiple next hop includes alist that specifies candidate hops. The incoming interface mode can beused to select among the candidates. More specifically, if the incominginterface designator for a packet matches the incoming interfacedesignator associated with a determined route, a first next hop in themultiple next hop list is selected as the next hop to be used inforwarding the packet. If the designators do not match, the second entryin the list can be selected as the next hop to be used in forwarding thepacket. For all other next hop types, if the match bit (m-bit describedbelow) is set and no match is detected, then the packet can be droppedand an appropriate discard counter can be set.

One implementation of a multiple next hop format is as shown in Table1-9.

TABLE 1-9 Multiple Next Hop Intermediate Next Hop Format 31 30 29 28 2726 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 108-byte double-word memory address 0 m 011 a h #hopswhere:

-   -   m=multicast bit. If set, and if this next hop is attached to a        route in a jtree, a 14-bit “interface index” is appended to the        route prefix data which must be matched against the incoming        interface index in the key buffer. If there is a mismatch the        packet is discarded unless the “h” bit is set (see below). The        m-bit is ignored in index table lookups.    -   a=accounting bit. If set, and if this next hop is attached to a        route in a jtree, a three word packet+byte counter pair is        appended to the prefix (and multicast interface index, if        present) data. These counters must be incremented to account for        packets and bytes matching this route. The a-bit is ignored in        index table lookups.    -   bits [31:10] of the next hop form the memory address of the        first entry in a list of next hops for this route, any of which        may be used to forward the packet.    -   #hops has a value between 1 and 15 inclusive, or 0. If the value        is 0, the number of next hops is 16, otherwise the number of        next hops is #hops. If #hops is 1, there is only 1 next hop, so        the hardware will always choose the same next hop, regardless of        the mode or the hash value.    -   h=hash bit. Along with the “m” bit, indicates how the hash value        is reduced to the index of a next hop in the list. The modes can        be selected from a balanced mode (m=X and h=O), an unbalanced        mode (m=O and h=1) and an incoming interface. mode (iifmode)        (m=1 and h=1). If the multiple next hop is read from a data        structure that does not support multicast, the m-bit is        interpreted as 0 even if it is set. For example, if a multiple        next hop with {m,h}={1,1} is read from an index table,        unbalanced mode processing is performed, not iif mode. In the        iif mode, there must be at least 2 next hops in the multiple        next hops list.

e) Extended Next Hop Intermediate Next Hop (fid=4)

The extended next hop format allows the lookup process to implement oneor more functions. Associated with an extended next hop is a extendednext hop list that includes one or more functions to be executed. Thefunctions can include policing operations. One implementation for anextended next hop format is as shown in Table 1-10.

TABLE 1-10 Extended Next Hop Intermediate Next Hop Format 31 30 29 28 2726 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 08-byte double-word memory address 0 m 100 a CA I CI O Fwhere:

-   -   m=multicast bit. If set, and if this next hop is attached to a        route in a jtree, a 14-bit “interface index” is appended to the        route prefix data which must be matched against the incoming        interface index in the key buffer. If there is a mismatch the        packet is discarded. The m-bit is ignored in index table        lookups.    -   a=accounting bit. If set, and if this next hop is attached to a        route in a jtree, a three word packet+byte counter pair is        appended to the prefix (and multicast interface index, if        present) data. These counters must be incremented to account for        packets and bytes matching this route. The a-bit is ignored in        index table lookups.    -   bits [31:10] of the next hop form the memory address of the        first entry in the extended next hop list. The F, O, CI, I, and        CA bits determine what is located in the extended next hop list.    -   F=modified final bit. If this bit is set, the word pointed to by        the address contains a modified final next hop, which causes        results to be set into the result register.    -   O=overwrite bit. If this bit is set, the extended next hop list        includes an overwrite word, which includes data to be inserted        in the rewrite bytes in the key, as well as settings for the        precedence bits. The overwrite next hop is included after the        modified final next hop, or at the start of the list if the F        bit is clear.    -   CI=counter indirect bit. If set, the next hop list includes a        32-bit counter pointer. This pointer contains information about        the location of a counter and its type. If present, this pointer        is located after the modified final and overwrite words.    -   I=intermediate bit. If set, the last word entry in the list is        an intermediate next hop of one of the formats described        previously. If no intermediate next hop is included in the list        the lookup terminates. If the I-bit is not set, the lookup        terminates immediately and the outgoing notification is built        based on the current results in the result buffer. Software can        terminate a lookup using an extended next hop with the I-bit not        set or even none of the F, O, CI, I, CA bits set. In one        implementation, the I-bit can be set and a final next hop can be        put in the extended next hop list. Note that the modified final        next hop is for placing a lookup result in result buffer to be        used when the lookup ends. For example, a result can be put in        result buffer before an output filter program is run. If the        packet is not dropped by firewall filter, the lookup result        stored in the result buffer will be used.    -   CA=counter attached bit. If set, the next hop list includes an        attached, standard, byte-and-packet counter. The counter is        attached to the end of the list, possibly with a single pad word        to align the counter to an odd-word boundary.

f) Policing

In networking systems, there is a need to be able to count the data bitsin a flow (flow is a logical unit of data transmitted for one place toanother). Additionally it is also useful to be able to measure the rateof the data bits (in say bits per second) and further be able to shapethe data flow as per requirements. The data flows can be shaped to becapped at a maximum bandwidth usage or otherwise restricted (e.g., aftera bandwidth usage has been achieved, reduce the priority of service forthe flow).

A number of terms are used in this section and are defined as follows.“Data Rate” as used herein refers to the measure of data transferred ina specified duration of time and is typically measured in bits persecond (bps, or Kbps, Mbps, Gbps). “Accounting” as used herein refers tothe ability to count the number of bits per flow. “Rate Measure” as usedherein refers to the ability to measure the data rate of a flow.“Policing” as used herein refers to the ability to measure the rate andthen shape it to a specified threshold.

In conventional systems, policing operations include two steps:measurement and flow policing. For a stream of data, a conventionalsystem needed to have a counter which keeps a count of the number ofbits of data in that stream that have been transferred. Additionally, atimer was needed which was used to set a data sampling interval. Giventhe number of data bits and a time reference, say 100 microseconds, aconventional system could count the number of data bits in that time andmultiply by, say 10000, to get a bits per second data rate measure forthe stream. If there are thousands of such streams-monitored by thesystem, a large memory may be required 10 to store the count informationfor the data bits.

In the monitoring step, for each chunk of data per stream, the systemwould read the counter and increment it with the number of bits in apacket. So for each packet transferred for a stream, the system wouldneed to read the memory once and write to it once. Additionally ifduring this continuous process of counting the bits per stream, thesystem needed to measure the data rate for individually policing eachflow, then an additional read of a threshold-count value is requiredevery time the data counter is updated. Furthermore, this counterideally is cleared every time interval so that the rate can be measuredover a next time interval. Thus for rate measurements to make policingdecisions for a flow, an additional read (every counter update) and awrite (every time interval) to memory may be required. Assuming a timeinterval of 100 microseconds and have 10000 streams, then there is afixed overhead of 100 mIDion writes to memory per second required insuch a system. The actual number of reads and writes to memory forcounting the data bits per stream and the read for the threshold-countvalue varies with the number of packet/cells transferred in a timeinterval for each particular stream.

In addition, the time interval and the total number of streams determinethe fixed overhead required for the computations. The smaller (finer)the time interval the more accurate the rate measurement would behowever the proportion of fixed overhead bandwidth also increases. Theoverall memory bandwidth requirement is proportional to the fixedoverhead and the rate of packet/cell transfers in the system. Thedrawbacks of this type of measurement technique is that one needs asignificant memory bandwidth overhead. This requirement grows as thetime interval reduces and the number of streams increases. The number ofaccesses required to count the data bits per packet/cell for each streamdepends on the number of packets/cells transferred. This is verydifficult to predict and thus any technique used for data ratecomputations will need to adapt to this need.

In the present system, a new approach is proposed. The approach is basedon the observation that for policing a flow a system needs to make amemory reference to update the counts every time a packet/cell flowsthru the device (i.e. router, switch). In a relatively busy system,where memory accesses are precious, the assumption is that in a set timeinterval there is a very high probability that each stream would have atleast one packet/cell transfer per unit time interval. In such anenvironment the goal is to be able to compute the data bits, data rateand make a decision on policing each flow in a burst read and writeoperation to memory without the need for any global overhead to clearall the counters each time interval. This can be accomplished by saving(in memory) the last access time (referred to herein as last adjustmenttime) together with the data bit count for every flow. The policingdecision can be made by computing how many bits of data are allowed inthe time interval between the arrival of two packets belonging to thesame flow, triggering access to the same counter.

More specifically, a policing function can be implemented as part of alookup chain by designating an intermediate next hop that includes anextended next hop format having a list that includes a counter function.The counter can be updated by the policing engine as described below.Depending on the updates, policing decisions can be made on a packet bypacket basis. A single burst read operation can be performed to read allof the data required to make the policing decision [the threshold countvalue (credit_limit), the data counter value (current_credit), the lasttime updated (last_adjustment_time), the amount to be updated per unittime (time_credit)].

The last time updated reflects the time of arrival of the last packetreceived for a given flow. A single burst write operation is performedto update the counter with a new count value and the time of arrival forthe last packet processed. In the present system, the counters are notupdated at a fixed time interval, and instead are updated only whentraffic is received in the given flow. The burst operations result in alarge savings on memory bandwidth in the system.

In one implementation, the format for a policing counter for use in anextended next hop is shown in Table 1-11.

TABLE 1-11 Policing Counter Format 31 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 2019 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 10 (double word alignedaddress) unused pad word out-of-spec packet counter credit_limitcurrent_credit time_credit last-adjustment_timewhere:

-   -   last_adjustment_time indicates the last time this policing        counter was incremented. The timestamp is referenced to one of        two on-chip global time counters, with the particular counter        selected by the setting of the “r” bit in the counter pointer        data structure pointed to by an extended next hop. In one        implementation, the high rate policing counter increments once        every 8.192 us, the low rate every 262.144 us.    -   time_credit indicates the amount of credit this counter receives        per time increment. The units are as specified in the        counter-pointer units field.    -   credit_limit indicates the limit to which the current_credit        field is allowed to increase. Units are as specified in the        counter-pointer units field, times 16.    -   current_credit indicates the amount of credit currently        accumulated.

An algorithm for updating the counter is as follows. The algorithm canbe executed by the policing engine 906 b in the route lookup engine 110.The policing engine 906 b receives packet length from the notification,and rate and units information from the key engine 905. The packetlength is first adjusted by rounding to units specified in the counterpointer data structure pointed to by an extended next hop, i.e.

if (units = 2′b00) {   adj_packet_length = packet_length; } else if(units = 2′b01) {   adj_packet_length = (packet_length + 2)>> 2; 25 }else if (units = 2′b10) {   adj_packet_length = (packet_length + 8) >>4;} else {   adj_packet_length = (packet_length + 32)>> 6; }

The adjustment can be performed before the first word of the counter isread. When the first word of the counter is read, then the new credit iscomputed based on the last adjustment time and the current time, wherethe latter is selected by the rate bit. The new credit computation isdefined by: new_credit=time_credit*(current_time−last_adjustment_time).In this implementation, the new credit value gets the lower 18 bits ofthe result of the multiplication. If the upper 14 bits of the result arenon-zero then the notification is considered to be within specificationand the current credit value is updated with the credit limit ratherthan the equation below. If the upper 14 bits are zero then thecomputations below should be performed to check if the notification willbe out of specification and how the data structure needs to be updated.

When the second word arrives the boolean policing result can be computedas: out_of_spec=(adj_packet_length>(current_credit+new_credit)); wherethe add must maintain 19 bit precision. The values written back to thelocations in the counter are:

time_credit = time_credit; last_adjustment_time = current_time;credit_limit = credit_limit; if (out_of_spec) {   temp =current_credit + new_credit; } else {   temp = current_credit +new_credit − adj_packet_length; } current_credit = min({credit_Iimit,4′h0}, temp); where any out_of_spec result is returned to the key enginefor packet disposal.

g) Firewall Filter

The firewall engine provides a filter by running an instruction engineover a portion of data extracted from the key buffer. For IP packetsthis data can include interface class, IP option flags, incominginterface, fragment offset, destination address, source address,protocol, source port, destination port and tcp flags.

A filter program includes a stream of instructions. The filter programis produced by a user and subsequently compiled to form executableinstructions that are stored in a memory (i.e., memory 920, of FIG. 9).The filter is executed by a firewall engine (i.e., firewall engine 906a) in accordance with the processing of a next hop. In oneimplementation, the user can create a filter program using two basictypes of instructions, match instructions and action instructions. Eachbasic instruction has a value to compare to a data quantity, andoccasionally a mask (defaults to 0) to bit-fiddle the data beforecomparison. The match instructions are described in greater detailbelow. A branch can be taken when the comparison is true or false.

Each (logical) interface family (i.e., incoming interface in the routingdevice) may (or may not) have a filter program designated for incomingpackets, a separate filter program for outgoing packets, and aconfigurable “interface class” byte for use in choosing output filtersbased on the incoming interface for a packet.

The structure of a filter program is as follows. Each filter programincludes a set of rules. Each rule has a set of zero or more matchconditions, and an action which is taken if all match conditions aretrue. Rules are logically executed in the order they appear in thefilter, with the action of the first matching rule being executed.

An example of an IP packet filter produced by a user is shown in Table1-12 below.

TABLE 1-12 IP Filter filter 3 ip {   rule 5 {     protocol udp,50-82 ;    action count accept ;   }   rule 10 {     protocol tcp,udp,50-82 ;    source-port 7-64,512-777 ;   destination-port 121-153 ;   optionslsrr|ssrr ;   from 192.168/17 ;   to 128.100/16 ;   tcp-flags (syn &lack) # same as “setup”     | (rst|ack) ; # same as “established”  fragment-flags (df| mf) ;  # also “dont-fragment” # and“more-fragments”   fragment-offset 1-8191 ; # same as “fragment”  action count log reject host ; } rule 20 {   protocol icmp ;  icmptype 1-52 ;   action discard ; } rule 30 {   action accept count ;    } }

Rule numbering is provided to allow the user to identify either a ruleitself (for modifications), or its relative ordering with respect toother rules (for additions).

In one implementation, matches can be of plural kinds. Matches onnumeric fields (e.g. protocol, port numbers, fragment offset, icmp type)can specify a separate list of numeric ranges. Matches on bit fields(e.g. tcpflags, options, fragment-flags) can specify a set of bitscombined with boolean operators. Matches on addresses are used to matchprefixes. Some match conditions can have abbreviations (e.g.“established” for “tcp-flags rst|lack”).

The result of a successful match is to take the “action”. The action maybe one of “accept”,

“discard” or “reject”, with modifiers “count” and/or “log”. “Count”counts the number of matches fora given rule, while “log” can be used to sample a packet for furtherprocessing. The log action can include the setting of sample bits in theresult buffer. The setting of sample bits can result in the copying of apacket to an external processor for evaluation in addition to therouting of the packet to its intended destination. Sampling is describedin greater detail above.

Each filter program is provided to a compiler. The compiler can beseparate from the route lookup engine. The compiler generates the finalinstructions which can be executed by the firewall engine. The firewallengine can be implemented in a software or hardware engine.

The compiler compiles each rule in the order it appears in the filterprogram, but can be configured to change the ordering of match conditionevaluations to suit its own purposes. The compiler evaluates the matchconditions one by one in the order it has decided upon, branchingforward into another rule when a match evaluates false. When a match isfound false, however, the filter engine knows that (1) all prior matchconditions in the rule were true, while (2) the failing match conditionwas false. The compiler can reorganize the match order to make use ofthis type of information. For example, the compiler can skip over anyimmediately subsequent rules that cannot match (i.e. if “protocol tcp;”fails, all subsequent rules with “protocol tcp;” will also fail and maybe skipped) and as far into the list of match conditions to a firstfeasible subsequent rule. The compiler can then remove dead matchconditions before compiling to instruction code. This skip over featureallows the compiler to generate better instruction variants. Forexample, a set of rules with identical match conditions except for thesource prefix, for example, can be compiled into a single evaluation ofthe common match conditions plus a tree lookup on the source address.

1) Instructions

As described above, the firewall engine is an instruction-based,protocol-independent match engine inside each route lookup engine thatoperates on the data in the 64-byte key buffer. In one implementation,each “instruction” is a 4-byte quantity followed by zero or more 4-byteoperands. Most instructions are “match” instructions, that is they takesome data from the key buffer and match it to their operands. A “true”match causes the next instruction in the stream to be executed, a“false” match causes a forward branch to be taken. A byte index to thedata item in

the key buffer to be matched, and an offset for the branch forward, isincluded in the instruction word. The match data is included in theoperands. The other instruction type is an “action” instruction. Actioninstructions may carry some fields unique to the instruction in theremainder of the 32-bit word, but usually don't include operands. Someaction instructions terminate the search and indicate the result toreturn.

The firewall engine includes a current data pointer (not shown) that isa byte pointer pointing to the data in the 64-byte key buffer to beoperated on by the firewall engine. The current data pointer isindependent of the current key pointer used outside of firewallprograms. In fact, the current key pointer remains at a fixed locationduring firewall program processing. When a firewall intermediate nexthop (fid=1, i=O) is encountered and control is passed to the firewallengine for executing the indicated filter program, the current datapointer is initialized to the value of the current key pointer (currentkey pointer value is the value after adding byte offset specified in theintermediate next hop). The current data pointer is updated every timean instruction containing the data offset field is executed. The dataoffset is an absolute byte address, not an offset from the currentvalue. This means that the current data pointer simply takes on thevalue of the data offset.

The data offset points to the data in the key buffer to be used for thecurrent instruction (in the filter program). It is the byte offset fromthe beginning of the key buffer, not an offset from the current datapointer value. For instructions that do not have the data offset field,the current data offset, i.e. the current data pointer value is used asthe data offset. In one implementation, the branch offsets in firewallinstructions are self-referential word offsets. The firewall engineincludes a program counter which keeps track of the 22-bit word addressof the current instruction word being executed. The next instruction tobe executed after a branch is set to be: the program counter (22-bitword addr)+1+branch offset (word offset, variable number of bits). Byexpressing all memory references in terms of an offset relative to theprevious location read, the firewall program can be independent of theposition into which it is placed in memory.

In one implementation, there are eight “match” operations supported. Theoperation (op) field contains the unique operation code (opcode)indicating the type of match operation to be performed. In oneimplementations, each match operation is performed on 1-, 2- or4-byte-wide data. The operation expects to operate on “data” (that isdata extracted at some offset into the key buffer), a “value” (a valueextracted from the instruction) and a “mask” (a second value sometimesincluded with the instruction where the default is all-zeroes). In oneimplementation, the eight operations include: an equivalence operation,a greater than operation, exclusive “or”, exclusive “and”,non-equivalence operation, less than, exclusive “nor” and exclusive“nand” operations.

a) One-Byte Match Instructions

One-Byte Match with Mask

Byte-wideinstructions are identified by a “01” in the low order bits.The first of these carries both data and a mask, but uses the currentdata offset.

31 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 76 5 4 3 2 10 byte value byte mask branch offset (10-bit) op 1 01where “value” and “mask” are included in the instruction and “data” isthe byte of data at the current data offset.One-Byte Match without Mask

This second form of operation explicitly sets the data offset, but usesa default mask.

31 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 76 5 4 3 2 10 Byte value branch offset (12-bit) data offset op 0 01where “value” is extracted from the instruction and “mask” is all zeroes(by default). The current data offset is set from the instruction, and“data” is extracted from the byte at that offset.

b) Two-Byte Match Instructions

Two-Byte Match with Mask

In a two byte match operation, the first byte match sets the data offsetand both a “value”. and “mask”. Note that the branch offset is actuallyan offset from the word after the second instruction word.

31 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 76 5 4 3 2 10 branch offset (20-bit) data offset op 1 10 short valueshort maskTwo-Byte Match without Mask

31 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 76 5 4 3 2 10 short value branch offset (10-bit) op 0 10

c) Four-Byte Match Instructions

Finally, there are 4 byte instructions. For these the “value” and “mask”words, if any, are always appended in subsequent instructions.

Four-Byte Match without Mask

In this format, the branch offset is actually an offset from the wordafter the second instruction word.

31 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 76 5 4 3 2 10 branch offset (20-bit) data offset op 0 11 long valueFour-Byte Match with Mask

Here the branch offset is actually an offset from the word after thethird instruction word.

31 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 76 5 4 3 2 10 branch offset (20-bit) data offset op 1 11 long value longmask

h) Action Instructions

The remaining instructions do not include a numeric match (as requiredby each of the matching instructions set forth above). As such, they arespecial instructions in the firewall instruction set.

Long Branch Instruction Format.

The canonical format for a long branch instruction is:

31 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 76 5 4 3 2 10 branch offset (22-bit) data offset 0 0 00

This instruction sets the data offset to that specified, and fetches thenext instruction from “branch offset” words past the next word. Notethat setting the “branch offset” to zero provides a method to reset the“data offset” without branching.

Termination Action Instructions

There are 4 different regular termination instructions. They aredistinguished by a field (the “res” field) in the instruction. Theformat for a regular termination instruction is:

-   -   res=2′b00—Discard notification. The lookup is terminated        immediately and the packet is discarded. The CF_DBR_CNTR (a        32-bit discard counter) is incremented. (If the corresponding        discard diagnostic bit is set, a copy of the notification is        sent to the host.) Note that the packet is discarded regardless        of whether the OP or TE (TE enabled) bit is set.    -   res=2′b01—Send to Host. The lookup is terminated immediately and        a notification is sent to the host by setting the destination        mask (dest_mask-9′b100). The next_hop_index in the outgoing        notification is set to the value of the next_hop_index field in        the termination instruction. PR[1:0] is set to 2′b00 (i.e. low        priority) regardless of its current value in the result buffer.        The x field is not changed, i.e. goes out with its current        result buffer value. The {rewrite, rb, o} fields in the        instruction are used to modify the corresponding rewrite1 field        in the key buffer which gets copied into the outgoing        notification. The res=2′b01 termination can be used as a        firewall “reject” instruction and the rewrite1 byte can be the        “reject code”.    -   res=d2′b10—Next lookup is a jtree lookup (fid=2, i=0) in the        jtree specified by table_id. Byte_offset is used to set the        current key pointer for the next lookup. The {s_x, x} and {s_PR,        PR} fields are used to modify the corresponding priority bits in        the result register.    -   res=2′b11—Next lookup is an index table lookup (fid=2, i=1) in        the table specified by table_id. Byte_offset is used to set the        current key pointer for the next lookup. The {s_x, x} and {s_PR,        PR} fields are used to modify the corresponding priority bits in        the result register.

31 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 76 5 4 3 2 10 reserved res 01 00Regular Termination. Res=2′b00 Instruction Format

31 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 76 5 4 3 2 10 next_hop_index rewrite rb o res 01 00Regular Termination res=2′b01 Instruction Formatwhere,

-   -   o=set bit for the rewrite field. If “o” is 1, the rewrite byte        in location [15:8] is copied into one of the first 2 bytes in        the key buffer, with the rb (i.e. rewrite byte) field specifying        which byte is rewritten.    -   rb=specifies whether rewrite byte 0 (rb=0) or rewrite byte I        (rb=1) should be overwritten if the “o” bit is set.

31 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 rewrite1 s_xx s_PR PR o1 byte_offset 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 10 table_id res 01 00

Regular Termination Res=2′b10, 2′b11 Instruction Format

-   -   o1=set bit for the rewrite1 field. If“o1” is I, the rewrite1        byte in location [31:24] is copied into the first byte in the        key buffer.

Extended Next Hop Termination Instruction Format

An extended next hop termination instruction can invoke an extended nexthop instruction set as described above. The branch offset to an extendednext hop is used to compute the address of an extended next hop list.The extended next hop list is located at program counter (22-bit wordaddr)+I+branch offset to extended next hop list (22-bit word offset).Note that an extended next hop list linked to a firewall instruction maynot be double word aligned because the branch offset is a word offset.The CA, I, CI, O, and F bits are as in the jtree/index, table extendednext hop format. The extended next hop termination with the I-bit notset can be used as a firewall “accept” instruction. The outgoingnotification will be built from the current contents of the resultbuffer. The result buffer should already have picked up the finalnext_hop index and dest_mask from a route encountered before enteringthe output firewall filter. Note that an “accept” instruction may simplybe an extended next hop termination with none of the 5 control bits set.If the I-bit is set, and the corresponding next hop in the extended nexthop list is a final next hop, the result_buffer is updated and thelookup terminates normally.

An extended next hop termination instruction looks like:

31 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 76 5 4 3 2 10 branch offset to extended next hop list (22-bit) 0 CA I CIO F 10 00

Tree Search Action Instructions

A tree search action instruction invokes a longest match operation onthe field in the key buffer pointed to by the data offset using a jtreestored in memory 920. A tree search instruction can have the followingform:

31 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 76 5 4 3 2 10 branch offset to jtree r R bit to test data offset 11 00(11-bit)

Data offset sets the current data pointer prior to starting the treesearch. The instruction word immediately following the word indicated bythe current data pointer (can be any firewall instruction) is executedif no match is found during the tree lookup. No match here means thelookup falls off the top of the stack, i.e. stack underflow. Theremaining fields are used to form a jtree pointer which points at thenext tree node at: program counter (22-bit word addr)+1+branch offset tojtree (11-bit word offset). The jtree lookup performed is identical to a“normal” jtree lookup, with the following exceptions. The 21-bit “8-bytedouble-word memory address” in any jtree pointer is a branch offsetrather than an absolute address. This keeps firewall filter programsindependent of memory location. The address of the next tree node iscalculated like this: program counter (22-bit word addr)+1+branch offset(21-bit word offset). Note that since the tree search instruction andjtree pointers in firewall programs have branch offsets that are wordoffsets, tree nodes in firewall jtrees may not be double word aligned.In one implementation, multicast iif comparisons and route accounting isnot done. The “next hop” in a firewall jtree must be one of a longbranch instruction, a regular termination instruction (any of the 4 restypes) or an extended next hop termination instruction. The “next hop”is restricted to these instructions because the word in memoryimmediately following it is the prefix. If the “next hop” is not one ofthe allowed instructions, the packet is discarded as a bad softwarediscard, and CF_DBSFT_CNTR (a 16-bit discard counter) is incremented. Ifa corresponding discard diagnostic bit is set, a copy of thenotification is sent to the host.

Tree Search Fail Instruction

The tree search fail instruction allows firewall jtrees to have prefixeswhose next hop means “this search failed, execute the instruction afterthe tree search instruction”. In one implementation, the failinstruction is actually a tree search instruction. In thisimplementation, the tree search instruction found in a firewall treesearch is interpreted as a fail instruction.

h) Example of a Chained Lookup

As described above, lookups can be chained to allow for a combination offiltering and lookup operations to be invoked for each packet. Anexample of a chained lookup is: Index Table Lookup->FirewallFilter->Jtree Lookup->Firewall Filter. This sequence corresponds toindex table lookup that is used to index a longest prefix match routelookup (jtree) with firewall filtering applied both before and after thejtree lookup. As described above, the data structures stored in memoryin the lookup engine 110 include a table of “starting next hops”. Thestarting next hop can be used to point to the first lookup operation(e.g., the index table lookup). “Intermediate Next Hops” are used topoint to the subsequent lookup operations (to the first “firewall filterprogram, one or more jtrees for longest match prefix route lookup andone or more different firewall filter programs). The intermediate nexthops are the result returned from each intermediate lookup operation.

The example above begins with a starting next hop of index table lookuptype. That is, the index engine 906 c is invoked to perform a lookup inan indicated index table 916. The index step points to an intermediatenext hop that chooses an input firewall filter for the packet. In thisexample, the firewall filter could be selected based on the “incominginterface index”. That is, the pointer offset field in the starting nexthop moves the current key pointer to the incoming interface index fieldof the key. This index is used to look up the table in memory 30pointing to the different firewall filter programs.

The firewall filter programs are stored and associated with firewallengine 906 a. The selected firewall filter program is executed by thefirewall engine 906 a just like a processor executing cpu instructions.Some firewall filter instructions refer to data in the key buffer toperform match operations. Depending on the contents of the packet, theprogram may decide to filter (drop) the packet and terminate the lookup,or it may exit and return an intermediate next hop (in this example ofjtree lookup type) that updates the current key pointer (in this exampleto the “IP Destination Address” field of the key).

In this example, the third lookup operation is a jtree lookup. The treesearch engine 906 d performs a jtree lookup on the IP destinationaddress in the key buffer to find the route with the longest matchingprefix. The result is an extended next hop which contains instructionsto place the final destination for the packet based on the jtree lookupresult in the result buffer. This is the destination the packet shouldbe forwarded to if the packet does not get dropped by the firewallfilter in the final lookup step. The next hop returned as a result fromthis jtree lookup operation also contains an intermediate extended nexthop of firewall filter type which points to a firewall program. Theprogram may decide to filter (drop) the packet in which case the lookupwill terminate and the packet will be dropped. If the program decides tokeep the packet, the filter program will simply terminate without takingany special action. In this case, the current contents of the resultbuffer, which is the result of the jtree lookup in the previous step,will be used to forward the packet to its destination appropriately.

Output Switch

Referring now to FIG. 11, output switch 102 includes a controllerinterface 1505, one or more memory inputs 1502 (1502-0 through 1502-7,one for each memory bank), one or more outputs 1504 (1504-0 through1504-7, one for each multi-function multiport), a result processor 1506and an output processor 1508. Output switch 102 performs four functions:receive output results, process output results, receive cells frommemory and output cells to output ports.

a) Transfers from Memory to the Output Switch

Cells from memory are received at memory inputs 1502 and transferred tooutput processor 1508. Cells are transferred based on read requestsreceived at the input switch from multi-function multiports. Each cellincludes an output port identifier and cell data.

Output processor 1508 decodes the destination multi-function multiportfrom the cell information received from memory and transfers the celldata to the appropriate outputs 1502. At each cell slot, output switch102 may receive a cell for processing from each bank in global databuffer 104.

b) Transfers from the Output Switch to the Multi-Function Multiports

Output switch 102 receives notification from controller 106 oncontroller interface 1505. Result processor 1506 decodes the result(route) and determines which multi-function multiport(s) 150 is (are) toreceive the route data. Based on the mask in the notification, resultprocessor 1506 transfers the notification to output processor 1508 fortransfer to each multifunction multiport 150 indicated. At each cellslot, output processor 1508 provides (via outputs 1504) a notificationcell to each multi-function multiport 150.

A notification cell includes a header and data field. The headerincludes memory bank source information and route information. Thememory bank source information includes a source identifier forindicating which memory bank provided the cell in data field. The routeinformation contains data from the notification including a next hopindex, packet length, full address and offsets.

Output Section of a Multi-Function Multiport

Referring now to FIGS. 3 and 12 each multi-function multiport 150includes an output switch interface 316, an input switch interface 304including read request queues 305, head and tail queue buffer 318, anoutput request processor 306, an line output interface 308, storagedevice (memory) 310, stream output buffers 312 and output formatter 314.

a) Notification Queues

A multi-function multiport 150 receives notification that a packet is tobe processed in the form of a notification cell received at the outputswitch interface 316.

Output request processor 306 processes notifications, storing each in anappropriate location in head and tail queue buffer 318 and servicingnotification requests as they make their way through the variouspriority queues in head and tail queue buffer 318. The servicing ofrequests results in the generation of a read request to input switch 100associated with the first address in memory where the packet (associatedwith the particular notification) is stored.

Referring now to FIG. 13, head and tail queue buffer 319 includes aplurality of notification queues Q 1700, where Q=4*s, and where s is thenumber of active streams in the multi-function multiport. Unlike theglobal data buffer, the queues Q are implemented on a per-port basis.The queues in a respective multi-function multiport store only thosenotifications associated with streams to be outputted from therespective port of the multi-function multiport. Each queue is itselfdivided into a head region 1702, a tail region 1704 and a body region1706. The head and tail region for a queue are stored in the head andtail queue buffer 318.

The size of the portion of the head and tail queue buffer dedicated toeach stream is fixed at initialization time and is proportional to thepeak bandwidth of its stream. The partitions between portions are “hard”in the sense that a stream cannot use more than the memory allocated toit. The partitions between queues associated with the same stream are“soft”. The size of an individual queue is proportional to the nominalbandwidth allocated to its queue. The body region of the notificationqueue is stored in the notification area 319 (FIG. 3) of the memorysection 290 of the multi-function multiport 150. Each stream is assigned4 queues (the body portions of the priority queues) in the notificationarea 319 (FIG. 3). The body region can be sized to be ⅕ of the overallmemory section.

Each queue associated with a given stream is serviced according to apriority scheme. Notifications that are received by the output requestprocessor 306 are loaded into an appropriate queue associated with astream based on the priority of the notification. Priority fornotifications, can be set by an external source and may be included inthe packet received by the router. Alternatively, controller 106 (FIG.3A) may set the priority depending on the amount of time required toperform the route lookup or other criteria.

Once a queue 1700 has been identified based on the priority informationand stream ID1, the output request processor 306 loads the notificationinto the appropriate tail queue 1704. Notifications are transferredbetween the respective head, tail and body portions of a queue based onavailable space by a queue manager (not shown). In one implementation,each notification is 16 bytes, and the notification area 319 is sized tohold 64 bytes. Accordingly, for reasons of bandwidth efficiency, allreads and writes to the notification area are done using 64-byte cellscontaining four 16-byte notifications each. The head and tail of eachqueue is sized to store only a small number of notifications, the bulkof queue storage being provided by the notification area in themulti-function multiport memory bank. As long as space is availableon-chip (on the multiport) to hold the notifications for a queue, thenotification area is completely bypassed. When on-chip space runs out,the notification area acts as the large “middle” of the queue, with afew notifications at the head and tail being held on-chip.

While the size of the notification area will tend to limit the numbersof dropped packets, occasionally a queue will become full. Outputrequest processor includes a drop engine (not shown) for determiningwhich entries in a particular queue are to be dropped based on apredefined algorithm. In one implementation, the drop engine institutesa programmable random early drop routine. The routine is programmable inthat the user can define one or more parameters, random in that a randomnumber generator is used to determine whether a entry will be dropped.Early refers dropping from the head of the queue.

The programmable random early drop routine may be implemented insoftware and when executed performs the following sequence ofoperations. The process begins by calculating the amount of data storedin a particular queue. This information is stored in the form of afraction (or percentage) of fullness. Thereafter, a drop criterion isdetermined based on the fraction of fullness. In one implementation, atable of drop criterion values ranging from zero to one is mappedagainst fullness fractional values. The drop engine then derives arandom number from zero to one. The random number may be generated by arandom number generator or other means as is known in the art. Acomparison is made between the random number generated and the dropcriterion value. Thereafter, the entry at the head of the particularqueue is dropped if the random number generated is larger than the dropcriterion. Alternatively, the drop engine could avoid the drop if therandom number generated is less than the drop criterion. The drop engine5 operates on each queue at a regular interval to assure that the queuesdo not overflow and a orderly method of dropping packets_˜s achieved ifrequired. This process is extremely helpful when transmitting packetsacross the Internet.

b) Per Bank Notification Queues

Each stream includes four queues 1700 that are serviced using a weightedround robin discipline. The weighting is used to reflect the priorityassociated with a given queue. For example, the four queues for a givenstream may be serviced in the following ratios: Q1 at 50%, Q2 at 25%, Q3at 15% and Q4 at 10%.

The multi-function multiport maintains four cell pointers for eachqueue: start, end, head, and tail. In one implementation, each pointeris 23 bits long and can address the entire memory associated with themulti-function multiport. The start and end pointers mark the boundariesof the queue's region, while the head and tail pointers point to thenext cell (notification) to read and next cell to write respectively.The head and tail pointers are restricted to align within the regiondefined by the start and end pointers, and standard wraparoundarithmetic is performed when incrementing these pointers.

Given the description above, it should be clear that the region for aqueue can be as small as one cell and as large as the entire memorybank. It is up to the software to configure the pointers atinitialization time to define the sizes of the regions, and to ensurethat regions are nonoverlapping with each other and with the memoryallocated to the global packet buffer.

Typically, the software is used to allocate memory to a streamproportional to the stream's bandwidth.

c) Read Request Generation

Output request processor 306 services the queues to extractnotifications from the head regions of queues 1700. Output requestprocessor generates a first read request based on the full addressreceived from output switch 102. Thereafter subsequent read requests aregenerated for transmission to the input switch based on the offsetinformation provided in the request (in the notification cell) orindirect cells (as will be described below). Read requests include astream identifier and a full address. Read requests are sent by theoutput request processor to an appropriate read request queue 305. Oneread request queue 305 is provided for each bank of memory.

In one implementation, if the packet length, as determined from theroute information provided with the notification cell, is greater thanfive (5) cells, then the output request processor first requests thetransfer (read from memory) of the first indirect cell associated withthe packet. This is accomplished by computing the address of theindirect cell based on the full address and the offsets provided in thenotification cell. After the indirect cell request is generated, theoutput request processor generates read requests for the remaining cellsin the packet based on the full address and the offsets provided in thenotification cell. Upon receipt of a indirect cell from the outputswitch 102, output request processor continues to generate read requestsfor the remaining cells in the packet based on the offset informationcontained within the indirect cell.

Subsequent indirect cells are retrieved in a similar fashion. That is,at the time for reading the next indirect cell, the address of the nextindirect cell is computed based on the last offset stored in theprevious indirect cell. The timing of retrieving the indirect cells isaccomplished such that no delays in the output stream are incurred. Eachsubsequent indirect cell is retrieved prior to the end of the processingof the prior indirect cell. In this way, once the output stream isinitialized, no buffering of data is required and no interruptions dueto the latency associated with the retrieval process are experienced.

Output requests to an individual memory bank are processed strictly inorder. That is, the multi-function multiport may track each requestissued to a memory bank (through the read request queues) and is assuredthat the data received in response to a series of requests to the samememory bank will be strictly delivered according to the sequence orpattern in which they were issued. Output request processor 306 keepstrack of requests generated for each memory bank through the use ofreply queues (not shown). The request queue contains a stream number anda read address. When a request is issued to memory, the entry is removedfrom the request queue and the stream number portion is placed in anassociated reply queue. When a reply is received, the entry at the headof the reply queue is removed and the reply is sent to the stream number(in stream output buffer 312) indicated by the stream number retrievedfrom the reply queue.

As cells are received back at the multi-function multiport 150(responsive to the read requests), they are stored in an associatedstream output buffer 312. Stream output buffer 312 includes a pluralityof FIFOs, one for each stream. Each cell received for a stream is placedin the streams associated FIFO. For given packet, the multi-functionmultiport stores a fixed number of cells (in the FIFO) required toprovide a streamed output prior to initializing the output of the streamto line output interface 308. In one implementation of the presentinvention, twelve cells are stored prior to beginning output (streamdata) from the output port. The selection of the number of cells forstorage in output buffer 312 is based on the latency in the read process(number of clock cycles between a read request from an multi-functionmultiport and the arrival of the cell associated with the read requestto the output port).

Output formatter 314 receives the cells from output buffer 312 andcouples the data with media header information stored in memory 310.Each request (notification) received from output switch 102 includes anext hop index. The next hop index indicates the starting address inmemory 310 of the media header information associated with a given typeof transmission (derived from the destination of the packet). Mediaheader information stored in memory 310 may be loaded uponinitialization of the router and updated by the controller as required.Output formatter 314 couples the cell data returned from memory with theappropriate media header to generate a proper packet for transfer out ofrouter 20 on the line output interface 308.

Packet Routing Overview

Referring now to FIG. 14, in a method of routing packets through aswitch a packet is received at a multi-function multiport (1800). Themulti-function multiport divides the packet into fixed length cells andtransfers the cells to an input switch (1802). Input switch removes thekey information from the first cell in a packet and stores ittemporarily in a key buffer (1804). Thereafter the input switch routesthe cells to memory banks resident in the multi-function multiports in atime division, multiplexed manner (1806). The input switch stores thefirst address in memory where the first cell is stored and computesoffsets for each additional cell associated with the offset in memoryfor the next contiguous memory bank into which the next cell is written(1808). The input switch creates indirect cells to store linkinginformation for the packet if the packet length exceeds five cells(1810). If the number of cells exceeds the number of available offsetsin an indirect cell, then the old indirect cell is stored in memory anda new indirect cell is created and loaded based on the offsetscalculated for each new cell received at the input switch.

When the packet (and its indirect cells if any) have been stored inmemory, then the key, full address of the first cell and offsetinformation is transferred as a lookup request to a controller (1814).The controller performs a lookup operation that can include a pluralityof chained lookup operations and generates a result. The result includesthe destination port (multi-function multiport), address, offsetinformation and next hop index (1816). A notification including theresult is transferred to the output switch for transfer to theappropriate multi-function multiport (1818).

Upon receipt of a notification, the multi-function multiport generatesread requests a cell at a time to the input switch for the dataassociated with the packet (1820). The input switch issues the readrequests in a time division multiplexed fashion generating a singlerequest to each memory bank per cell slot (1822). When the memory bankreceives the request from the input switch, cell data and amulti-function multiport identifier associated with the request aretransferred to the output switch (1824). Again, at each cell slot, theoutput switch transfers a single cell to each of the multi-functionmultiports. Upon receipt, the multi-function multiport couples the celldata with media header information and streams the data to thedestination (1826).

ALTERNATIVE IMPLEMENTATIONS

The present invention has been described in terms of specificembodiments, which are Illustrative of the invention and not to beconstrued as limiting.

For example, the system can be configured to run the same jtree over twodifferent fields in the key (this is so the system can support a matchwhich is true when one of a list of prefixes matches either thedestination address or the source address in a packet).

Next hops can be designed to support many features in addition to packetforwarding. Additional packet processing features that are possibleinclude but are not limited to accounting, sampling, quality of service,flow policing, and load balancing.

For accounting, fields in an intermediate or extended next hop canindicate that a specific counter should be incremented. For example, theroutes in a jtree for longest prefix match lookup are next hops. Ifthese next hops point to different counters, the counters can be used tocount the number of packets taking each route. Note that more than onenext hop can be set up to point to the same counter. For supportingsampling and quality of service, next hops can contain fields thatmodify sampling enable bits and quality of service values stored in theresult buffer. A lookup step can be added to the chain of lookups totest certain fields in the key to select the next hop to make thedesired modification.

For supporting flow policing, next hops can contain pointers to datastructures storing policing parameters. A firewall filtering step can beinserted into a chain of lookups to select a set of policing parametersbased on different fields in the key buffer.

For supporting load balancing, an intermediate next hop can be designedto point to mo˜than one final next hop for selection.

The data structures (jtrees, index tables, filter programs) stored inmemory 920 (of FIG. 9) to support-the various lookup operations can beatomically updated so that updates to the data structures can beperformed at the same time lookup operations are being executed. Each ofthe data structures includes a pointer to a next operation. The pointersare of the form of a next hop. The next hop may be an intermediate nexthop, or a final next hop. Modifications can be made to a chain (a seriesof lookups that are to be performed for a particular type of packet(e.g., incoming interface)) without requiring a current lookup operationto be terminated. That is, an entry in the chain can be removed byupdating the pointer in the lookup specified one entry in the chainabove the item to be removed to point to the entry in the chain that isone entry after the deleted item. The update is atomic, in that existingoperations are not affected, and any subsequent results returned afterthe update will branch to the appropriate next entry in the lookupchain. All changes can be resolved to a single write operation.Similarly, a lookup can be added to the chain by adding the datastructure to memory including designating the result that is returned bythe added entry point to the entry in the chain at the point just afterwhere the new entry is to be included in the chain. Finally, the pointerin the entry (the result returned) just above the point where the newentry in the chain is to be included is updated to point to the newentry. Again, existing operations are not required to be terminated andsubsequent chain processing operations (that are executed after thechange) will include the added lookup.

Similarly, within the data structures, updates to individual portions ofthe branching operations (e.g., branches in a tree, a branch in a filterprogram, or a result returned in an index search) can be performedatomically.

Other embodiments are within the scope of the following claims.

1-24. (canceled)
 25. A method, comprising: receiving, by a networkdevice, a packet; dividing, by the network device, the packet intofixed-length quantities of data; transferring, by the network device,the fixed-length quantities of data to an input switch of the networkdevice, the fixed-length quantities of data being stored in a memory ofthe network device, an address of a first quantity of data, of thefixed-length quantities of data, being stored by the input switch, andoffset information regarding other quantities of data, of thefixed-length quantities of data, being computed by the input switch;transferring, by the network device, the address and the offsetinformation as a lookup request to a controller of the network device;receiving, by the network device, a result of a lookup operation basedon the lookup request; transferring, by the network device, the resultto an output switch of the network device; generating, by the networkdevice, read requests a quantity of data at a time for data associatedwith the packet; transferring, by the network device and based on theread requests, the data associated with the packet from the memory tothe output switch; coupling, by the network device, the data associatedwith the packet; and streaming, by the network device and based oncoupling the data associated with the packet, to a destination.
 26. Themethod of claim 25, further comprising: removing key information fromthe first quantity of data; and storing the key information in a keybuffer.
 27. The method of claim 25, where the fixed-length quantities ofdata are stored in the memory in a time division, multiplexed manner.28. The method of claim 25, where the offset information indicatesoffsets in the memory for each additional quantity of data after thefirst quantity of data.
 29. The method of claim 25, further comprising:creating indirect quantities of data to store linking information forthe packet based on a length of the packet exceeding a particular numberof quantities of data.
 30. The method of claim 25, further comprising:determining whether a number of the fixed-length quantities of dataexceeds a number of available offsets in an indirect quantity of data;storing a first indirect quantity of data in the memory based on thenumber of the fixed-length quantities of data exceeding the number ofavailable offsets in the indirect quantity of data; creating a secondindirect quantity of data; and loading the second indirect quantity ofdata based on offsets calculated for each new quantity of data receivedat the input switch.
 31. The method of claim 25, where the lookupoperation includes a plurality of chained lookup operations.
 32. Anetwork device comprising: one or more processors to: receive a packet;divide the packet into fixed-length quantities of data; transfer thefixed-length quantities of data into an input switch of the networkdevice, the fixed-length quantities of data being stored in a memory ofthe network device, an address of a first quantity of data, of thefixed-length quantities of data, being stored by the input switch, andoffset information regarding other quantities of data, of thefixed-length quantities of data, being computed by the input switch;transfer the address and the offset information as a lookup request to acontroller of the network device; receive a result of a lookup operationbased on the lookup request; transfer the result to an output switch ofthe network device; generate read requests a quantity of data at a timefor data associated with the packet; transfer, based on the readrequests, the data associated with the packet from the memory to theoutput switch; couple the data associated with the packet; and stream,based on coupling the data associated with the packet, to a destination.33. The network device of claim 32, where the result includes adestination port, the address, the offset information, and a next hopindex.
 34. The network device of claim 32, where the read requests areissued in a time division multiplexed fashion.
 35. The network device ofclaim 32, where a single read request of the read requests are generatedfor each memory bank per slot.
 36. The network device of claim 32, wherethe one or more processors, when transferring the data associated withthe packet from the memory to the output switch, are to: transfer thedata associated with the packet and a multiport identifier associatedwith a read request of the read requests from the memory to the outputswitch.
 37. The network device of claim 32, where the one or moreprocessors are further to: transfer a single quantity of data, of thedata associated with the packet, from the output switch to each of aplurality of multiports.
 38. The network device of claim 32, where theone or more processors, when coupling the data associated with thepacket, are to: couple the data associated with the packet with mediaheader information.
 39. A non-transitory computer-readable mediumstoring instructions, the instructions comprising: one or moreinstructions which, when executed by one or more processors of a networkdevice, cause the one or more processors to: receive a packet; dividethe packet into fixed-length quantities of data; transfer thefixed-length quantities of data into an input switch of the networkdevice, the fixed-length quantities of data being stored in a memory ofthe network device, an address of a first quantity of data, of thefixed-length quantities of data, being stored by the input switch, andoffset information regarding other quantities of data, of thefixed-length quantities of data, being computed by the input switch;transfer the address and the offset information as a lookup request to acontroller of the network device; receive a result of a lookup operationbased on the lookup request; transfer the result to an output switch ofthe network device; generate read requests a quantity of data at a timefor data associated with the packet; transfer, based on the readrequests, the data associated with the packet from the memory to theoutput switch; couple the data associated with the packet; and stream,based on coupling the data associated with the packet, to a destination.40. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 39, where eachof the fixed-length quantities of data comprises a header that includesat least one of: a type field, a stream field, or a packet header field.41. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 40, where thetype field indicates a type of data to be transferred.
 42. Thenon-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 40, where the streamfield indicates a stream to which the data associated with the packetbelongs.
 43. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 40,where the packet header field includes at least one of: start offsetinformation, packet length information, or interface index information.44. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 39, where theone or more instructions, when executed by the one or more processors,further cause the one or more processors to: mark each quantity of dataof the fixed-length quantities of data as one of: a first quantity ofdata, an intermediate quantity of data, a last quantity of data, or afirst quantity of data that is also a last quantity of data.